WhatsApp Tells Top Court It Will Comply With CCI Directive on Data Sharing
Messaging app withdraws appeal and agrees to implement consent safeguards as Supreme Court hears cross-appeals in privacy dispute.
Topics
News
- WhatsApp Tells Top Court It Will Comply With CCI Directive on Data Sharing
- LTIMindtree Wins $100 Million MedTech Deal Amid Push for Large Contracts
- McKinsey, OpenAI Team Up on Enterprise AI Rollout
- TCS Partners ServiceNow to Embed Agentic AI Across Global Businesses
- Altman’s AI Energy Comparison to Human Development Draws Flak
- Why Open Networks, DPIs Are Key to Scaling Social Impact
Meta and WhatsApp told India’s Supreme Court on Monday that they will implement user-consent safeguards on data sharing in line with the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI’s) directive.
The messaging app also withdrew its appeal against CCI’s November 2024 directive, which also imposed a ₹213.14-crore (about $23.4 million) penalty for unauthorized sharing of data.
WhatsApp also told a bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant that the company was withdrawing its challenge to a November 2025 order passed by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal.
The dispute stems from WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy update, which the competition regulator said was imposed on a take-it-or-leave-it basis and expanded data sharing within the Meta group.
In November 2024, the Competition Commission of India imposed a ₹213.14 crore penalty on WhatsApp over its 2021 privacy policy update and issued directions aimed at regulating cross-platform data sharing.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal later upheld the monetary penalty but set aside a five-year ban that restricted WhatsApp from sharing subscriber data with Meta companies for advertising purposes, while keeping the broader privacy and consent safeguards in play.
The competition watchdog filed a cross-appeal against the tribunal ruling setting aside the ban, on which the apex court issued notices to WhatsApp and Meta.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for WhatsApp and Meta, told the bench that a detailed compliance affidavit would be filed by the deadline fixed by the court.
The bench, led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, directed WhatsApp to file a compliance affidavit detailing the implementation of the consent mechanism by mid-March, while keeping the substantive appeals pending for further hearing.
The case is likely to address the scope of the competition regulator’s powers to impose remedies affecting data flows within dominant digital platforms.
Earlier, on February 3, the Supreme Court had sharply criticised WhatsApp and Meta over what it described as the unauthorised sharing and commercial exploitation of users’ privacy data.
“We will not allow you to share a single word or data…,” it had warned. “You have made a mockery of the country’s Constitution….”
