Supreme Court Delivers Scathing Rebuke to WhatsApp and Meta Over Data Privacy Violations in India

In a landmark ruling with profound implications for digital privacy and corporate accountability, the Supreme Court of India has issued a stern condemnation of WhatsApp and its parent company Meta for systemic violations of user data rights. The bench, led by Chief Justice Surya Kant alongside Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, characterized the platform's 'consent to share' mechanisms as fundamentally deceptive—comparing them to a 'pact between lion and lamb'—while adjudicating appeals challenging the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal's affirmation of Competition Commission findings against Meta for abuse of dominant position. The court's analysis underscores a critical erosion of privacy safeguards, emphasizing that such practices not only contravene Indian law but also represent a breach of public trust. This decision reinforces the judiciary's role in curbing monopolistic overreach and sets a precedent for stringent oversight of tech giants operating within India's jurisdiction. The ruling signals an escalating regulatory scrutiny that may compel substantive reforms in data handling protocols across the digital ecosystem.