Our Bureau
New Delhi
The Supreme Court flagged privacy concerns with WhatsApp and its parent company Meta for sharing any Indian user data while reviewing a long‑running privacy case, saying the court will not allow even “a single piece of information” to be passed on. A Bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant made the remark during hearings on Meta’s 2021 privacy‑policy changes, which had triggered a clash with India’s competition watchdog and privacy‑rights groups.
The court questioned the “take‑it‑or‑leave‑it” nature of WhatsApp’s updated terms, under which users had to accept broad data‑sharing clauses with Meta entities or stop using the app. The Chief Justice said such a setup left little real choice, especially for ordinary users such as street vendors or rural residents who may not fully understand complex policy language. He also warned that personal data should not be treated as a commodity to be freely exploited for advertising and other business purposes.
Judges highlighted how data from WhatsApp conversations and usage patterns can be used to target ads across Meta’s platforms, even if the actual message content is end‑to‑end encrypted. One example cited in court was that if a user messages a doctor about feeling unwell and receives a prescription on WhatsApp, they soon start seeing related medicine ads, showing how behaviour is tracked and monetised.
