WhatsApp to implement CCI order on giving users choice on data sharing, Supreme Court told

The court also sought a response from WhatsApp and its parent Meta Platforms on a plea for imposing a five-year ban on advertisements on WhatsApp.

New Delhi: WhatsApp LLC on Monday told the Supreme Court that it will implement the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) order that asked it to give users a choice for sharing data with Meta Platforms Inc or other Meta companies.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India also sought a response from WhatsApp and its parent Meta Platforms on a plea for imposing a five-year ban on advertisements on WhatsApp, in view of a recommendation by the CCI.

WhatsApp sought to withdraw its application challenging the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) order that called for the enforcement of the CCI directions on requiring a user-consent-based framework for data sharing.

The court permitted WhatsApp and Meta Platforms to withdraw the applications on the issue.

However, it directed WhatsApp to file a compliance report on the user-data-sharing directions before the CCI as required by the NCLAT.

Senior counsel Kapil Sibal for WhatsApp and Meta said that WhatsApp had filed an affidavit explaining its data-sharing practices and has also undertaken to implement the NCLAT’s directions within the timeline set by the appellate tribunal.

He submitted that WhatsApp would no longer press a stay of the NCLAT’s directions since the company had decided to comply with them by March 16.

The court would further hear the matter on March 16.

On February 3, the court had slammed WhatsApp and its parent Meta Platforms against sharing private user data for targeted advertising, saying that it will not allow them to play with the right to privacy of millions of their “silent consumers” in India.

“We will not allow you to share even a single information, you cannot play with the right of privacy of this country, let a clear message go on your WhatsApp,” the bench told the counsel for global technology company Meta and its WhatsApp messaging service.

“You are making a mockery of the constitutionalism of this country," the court had said.

The bench likened the data sharing to a “decent way of committing theft of private information of users”.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal had last year upheld the Competition Commission of India’s Rs 213 crore penalty against WhatsApp for abusing its dominant position in its 2021 privacy policy case. Meta also challenged the appellate tribunal order, which directed WhatsApp to give users a choice on sharing data with Meta Platforms or other Meta companies for advertising and other purposes.

In 2021, WhatsApp updated its terms of service and privacy policies under which users were required to accept the new terms, including an expanded scope of data collection and mandatory data sharing with Meta companies, to continue using WhatsApp.