The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned to February 23 the hearing on pleas filed by Meta Platforms Inc and WhatsApp challenging a Competition Commission of India (CCI) order that imposed a penalty of Rs 213.14 crore over their privacy policy.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and N V Anjaria was informed that senior advocate Kapil Sibal was unwell, following which the matter was deferred. The bench said it would take up the pleas for passing an interim order on February 23 and allowed a litigant represented by senior advocate Arvind Datar to be impleaded as a party.
Earlier, on February 3, the bench made strong observations against Meta Platforms Inc and WhatsApp, saying they could not "play with the right to privacy of citizens in the name of data sharing" and alleging that they were creating a monopoly in the market and committing theft of private information of customers.
While decrying WhatsApp’s privacy policy, the bench referred to "silent customers" who were unorganised, digitally dependent and unaware of the implications of data-sharing policies, asserting, "We will not allow the rights of any citizen of this country to be damaged." WhatsApp is owned by Meta Platforms Inc.
The apex court is hearing appeals by the two tech companies against a CCI order that levied a penalty of Rs 213.14 crore on them over the privacy policy. On November 4, 2025, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) had set aside a portion of the CCI order that barred WhatsApp from sharing data with Meta Platforms Inc for advertising purposes for five years, while retaining the Rs 213-crore penalty.
Subsequently, the NCLAT clarified that its ruling on privacy and consent safeguards in the WhatsApp case would also apply to user data collection and sharing for non-WhatsApp purposes, including both non-advertising and advertising.
The top court had earlier 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 appeals. The bench is also hearing a cross-appeal by the CCI, which has challenged the NCLAT ruling insofar as it permitted WhatsApp and Meta to continue sharing users’ data for advertising purposes.
