Supreme Court to Meta: “Revise WhatsApp Policy or Exit India,” Says CJI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court told tech giant Meta, which owns WhatsApp, on Tuesday that the instant messaging app's privacy policy was not good enough. A bench led by Chief Justice Surya told the US company, "You can't play with privacy... we will not allow you to share a single digit of our data," and said it would not stand for Indians being taken advantage of.

The court was hearing a case about WhatsApp's 2021 privacy policy, specifically the company law tribunal upholding the Competition Commission of India's Rs 213 crore fine.

The CCI also filed a cross-appeal about the sharing of user data for advertising purposes. The tribunal allowed this after deciding that the company had not "abused its power."

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who spoke for the government, criticized the "exploitative" policy of sharing user data for business purposes. The Chief Justice then said, "If you can't follow our Constitution, leave India." We won't let people's privacy be violated.

The court made some very clear comments about the policy, such as asking if the millions of poor and uneducated people in the country could understand it. "Will a poor woman, a street vendor, or someone who only speaks Tamil be able to understand?"The court blasted Meta and WhatsApp after hearing about a "opt out" clause, saying, "Sometimes we have trouble understanding your policies... so how will people living in rural Bihar understand them?" This is a way to steal private information. We won't let it happen."

The Chief Justice then used his own experience as a guide. "If you send a message to a doctor on WhatsApp saying you're not feeling well and the doctor sends you some medicine prescriptions, you start seeing ads right away."

Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Akhil Sibal, who were there for Meta and WhatsApp, said that all messages are "end-to-end encrypted," which means that even the companies can't see what they say.

What is the case about?

The CCI said in November 2024 that WhatsApp was forcing its users to accept the new policy because it was the most popular messaging app at the time.

The CCI didn't like it when WhatsApp told users that they had to let other Meta platforms share their data in order to keep using the messaging services. Because of this, a fine of Rs 213 crore was imposed, which Rohatgi and Sibal told the court today had been paid.

Meta and WhatsApp fought that order in January 2025. In November 2025, the law tribunal lifted a five-year ban on WhatsApp sharing data, but it kept the fine.