Supreme Court raps Meta, WhatsApp: ‘Theft of private information, won’t allow its use’

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi was hearing pleas filed by Meta and WhatsApp challenging an order of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), which upheld a penalty of Rs. 213.14 crore imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) over WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy.

“We will not allow you to share even a single piece of information. You cannot play with the rights of this country. Let a clear message go out,” the Chief Justice said, as quoted by Live Law.

“You are making a mockery of the constitutional values of this country. We will dismiss it right away. How can you play with the right to privacy of people like this? The consumer has no choice; you have created a monopoly,” the CJI added.

Senior advocate Akhil Sibal, appearing for Meta and WhatsApp, submitted that users had the option to opt out of the policy. Questioning the effectiveness of such consent, the Chief Justice made it clear that the court would not hear the matter unless the platforms gave an undertaking that users’ personal data would not be shared.

“A poor woman selling fruits on the street—will she understand the terms of your policy? Will your domestic help understand this? You may have taken the data of millions. This is a decent way of committing theft of private information. We will not allow you to use it,” the CJI said.

The Chief Justice also shared a personal experience, stating that whenever he discussed a particular subject on WhatsApp, he would soon see related advertisements on social media platforms.

Justice Bagchi, meanwhile, observed that data itself carries economic value. “Every silo of data, irrespective of privacy, has a value. We would like to examine what the rent-sharing of data is. We are concerned about how behaviour is utilised and monetised for trends. You are using data for the purpose of targeted online advertising,” he said.