The Supreme Court has warned Meta that it would not allow the company to 'play with the right to privacy' of WhatsApp users.
Chief Justice Surya Kant said the court would not allow Meta and WhatsApp to share even 'a single piece of information' while the case is still being heard.
The statement came during a hearing on Meta’s appeal against a penalty linked to WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy.
The Supreme Court has warned Meta that it would not allow the company to ‘play with the right to privacy’ of WhatsApp users. The statement came during a hearing on Meta’s appeal against a penalty linked to WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy. The judges made it clear that user data protection is a serious issue, especially in a country like India where WhatsApp is used by more than 500 million people. The court questioned how users can give real consent to data-sharing when WhatsApp is almost the default way to communicate.
SurveyChief Justice Surya Kant said the court would not allow Meta and WhatsApp to share even ‘a single piece of information’ while the case is still being heard. He pointed out that users have very little choice but to accept the policy if they want to keep using the app.
Also read: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 price drops by over Rs 46,000 on this platform: Check deal details here
Calling WhatsApp a monopoly in practice, Kant asked how ‘a poor woman selling fruits on the street’ or a domestic worker could be expected to understand how their personal data is used, reports TechCrunch.
Other judges also raised concerns. Justice Joymalya Bagchi said the court wanted to understand how valuable people’s behaviour data is and how it is used to show targeted ads. He said that even data that is anonymised or kept separately still has economic value. Government lawyers also said that personal data was not just collected, but was also used to make money.
Also read: Motorola Edge 50 Pro price drops by over Rs 13,100 on this platform: Check deal details here
Meta’s lawyers defended the company by saying WhatsApp messages are end-to-end encrypted and cannot be read by Meta itself. They argued that the 2021 privacy policy did not reduce user protection or allow chat content to be used for ads.
The Supreme Court has now postponed the case until February 9. It has asked Meta and WhatsApp to clearly explain their data practices. The court has also allowed the IT Ministry to join the case, which could broaden the legal review.
Follow Us
Ayushi Jain
Ayushi works as Chief Copy Editor at Digit, covering everything from breaking tech news to in-depth smartphone reviews. Prior to Digit, she was part of the editorial team at IANS. View Full Profile
