News Today: Supreme Court directs Meta and WhatsApp to comply with CCI privacy guidelines
news today the Supreme Court heard appeals by Meta Platforms Inc and WhatsApp and told the companies to comply with the NCLAT directions extending Competition Commission of India privacy and consent rules to advertising-related data, with the firms saying they will implement the tribunal’s directions by March 16, 2026.
Bench rejects stay, asks for compliance report
A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant and including Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi dismissed applications seeking a stay of the NCLAT order while hearing the tech giants’ appeals; the Chief Justice clarified the dismissals were without prejudice to the main appeal and sought a compliance report from the companies. The court noted the appeals challenge the NCLAT directions of December 15, 2025, and is also seized of a cross-appeal filed by the Competition Commission of India that assails the NCLAT ruling to the extent it allowed WhatsApp and Meta to continue sharing users’ data for advertising purposes.
News Today: What the companies told the court
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for WhatsApp and Meta, told the Bench that the companies would implement the NCLAT directions by March 16, and maintained on February 23, 2026 that it is not "quite right" to say the platform shares data with other Meta platforms. Mr. Sibal said the technology put a premium on privacy and submitted, "There is no question of violating the law, " while also pointing to the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 as addressing the privacy concerns raised in the proceedings.
Penalty, prior tribunal rulings and technical filings
The Supreme Court is hearing appeals against a CCI order that imposed a penalty of Rs 213. 14 crore on Meta and WhatsApp over the 2021 privacy policy. On November 4, 2025 the NCLAT set aside a section of the CCI order that had banned WhatsApp from sharing data with Meta for advertising purposes for five years, while retaining the Rs 213-crore penalty; the tribunal later clarified that its order on privacy and consent safeguards also applies to user-data collection and sharing for non-WhatsApp purposes, including non-advertising and advertising.
Judges’ rebuke, users and NCLAT’s reasoning
In an earlier hearing on February 3 the court rebuked the firms, saying they cannot "play with the right to privacy of citizens in the name of data sharing", accused them of creating a monopoly and of committing theft of customers' private information, and referred to "silent customers" who are unorganised and unaware of data-sharing implications; the Bench declared, "We will not allow the rights of any citizen of this country to be damaged. " The NCLAT had said the "core principle is to remove exploitation by restoring user choice" and held that non-essential collection or cross-use, including advertising, can occur only with a concerned user's express and revocable consent.
Legal teams, affidavits and parallel notices
WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta Platforms Inc, has filed a comprehensive affidavit explaining its end-to-end encryption technology after the scathing oral remarks from the Bench on February 3; Mukul Rohatgi also appeared for WhatsApp in the proceedings. Separately, the court has been linked with a notice proposing a five-year ad ban on WhatsApp, captured in the record as SC issues notice to Meta proposing five-year ad ban on WhatsApp.
The court directed that the appellants’ affidavit on the privacy policy may be examined by the CCI and a response placed on record, and it recorded the companies’ undertaking to implement the tribunal directions by March 16, 2026; the Bench has asked for a compliance report as the next step in the case.
