New Delhi, Feb 3: The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday came down heavily on Meta Platforms Inc and WhatsApp while hearing their appeals against a Competition Commission of India (CCI) order imposing a penalty of ₹213.14 crore over the companies’ privacy policy.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said it would pass an interim order on February 9 and directed that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology be impleaded as a party to the petitions.
The court was hearing appeals by Meta and WhatsApp against a National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) judgment that upheld the CCI’s finding of abuse of dominance, while granting limited relief related to advertising data sharing.
“You cannot play with the right to privacy of citizens in the name of data sharing,” the Chief Justice observed, adding that the court would not permit the sharing of user data without a clear undertaking from the companies. The bench noted that the right to privacy is zealously guarded in India and remarked that the privacy terms are “so cleverly crafted” that a common user cannot easily understand them.
Calling such practices a “decent way of committing theft of private information,” the court warned that unless an undertaking is given, it would be compelled to pass appropriate orders.
