India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday issued an unusually strong rebuke to Meta, warning it would not allow the social media giant to “play with the right to privacy” of Indian users, as judges questioned how WhatsApp monetizes personal data.
The comments came as Meta appealed a penalty imposed on WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy. Critics have repeatedly asked the company how users can effectively consent to data-sharing practices in a market where the app is almost the default communication platform.
With more than 500 million users, India is WhatsApp’s largest market and a key growth area for Meta’s advertising business. Judges in the case are questioning the potential commercial value of metadata generated by the platform and how such data could be monetized in Meta’s broader advertising and artificial intelligence functions.
During the hearing, Chief Justice Surya Kant said the Supreme Court would not allow Meta and WhatsApp to share a “single piece of information” while the appeal was pending, arguing that users had little real choice to accept WhatsApp’s privacy policy.
Calling the messaging service a de facto monopoly, Kant questioned how “a poor woman selling fruit in the street” or a domestic helper could be expected to understand how their data was being used.
Other reviewers also pressed Meta on how it analyzes user data beyond the content of messages. Justice Joymalya Bagchi said the court wanted to consider the commercial value of behavioral data and how it can be used for targeted advertising, arguing that even anonymized or suppressed information has economic value. Government lawyers added that personal data is not only being collected but also being commercially exploited.
Meta’s lawyers said the platform’s messages are end-to-end encrypted and inaccessible even to the company, arguing that the privacy policy in question did not weaken user protections or allow chat content to be used for advertising.
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The case stems from a 2021 update to WhatsApp’s privacy policy that required users in India to accept broader data sharing terms with Meta or stop using the service. India’s competition regulator later imposed a ₹2.13 billion (about $23.6 million) penalty, finding that the policy abused WhatsApp’s dominant position in the messaging market. That decision was upheld on appeal while Meta and WhatsApp asked the Supreme Court to challenge it. Meta’s lawyers told the court that the sentence had already been paid.
The Supreme Court adjourned the matter to February 9, allowing Meta and WhatsApp to explain their data practices in more detail. Following a proposal by the competition regulator, the court also agreed to add the IT ministry as a party to the case, widening the scope of the proceedings.
Meta declined to comment.
WhatsApp is facing intense scrutiny of its data privacy around the world. According to information, US authorities review claims that WhatsApp chats may not be as private as the company claims, adding to broader questions about how encrypted messaging platforms handle user data.
In India, WhatsApp is also navigating new regulatory restrictions, including recent SIM-locking rules aimed at curbing fraud, which could limit how widely small businesses use the messaging service.
