2 min readNew DelhiFeb 24, 2026 05:31 AM IST
Rebuked by the Supreme Court over its data sharing policy, WhatsApp LLC on Monday told the apex court that it had decided to comply with the directions of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) asking it to give users greater control over sharing of their data with its parent company Meta.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for the messaging platform told a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi that it will implement the CCI directions by March 16, 2026.
He said in view of this, the company was not pressing its applications filed seeking a stay on the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) order upholding some of the CCI directions.
Sibal also said it had filed a comprehensive affidavit explaining its data-sharing practices. He said the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, addressed all concerns regarding privacy on the platform comprehensively.
The court while allowing WhatsApp to withdraw its applications, however, said the main appeal by it against the CCI action on its 2021 privacy policy will remain pending.
By order dated November 18, 2024, the CCI had imposed a five-year ban on sharing user data with Meta for advertising purposes and also slapped a penalty of Rs 213.14 crore on the parent company.
On appeal, the NCLAT on November 4, 2025, upheld the penalty but set aside the 5-year ban.
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The CCI then moved the NCLAT seeking clarification and the Tribunal said: “The remedial directions contained in paragraphs 247.2.1 to 247.2.4 of the impugned order dated November 18, 2024, shall apply to WhatsApp user data collection and sharing for all non-WhatsApp purposes, including both non-advertising and advertising purposes.”
Hearing the applications seeking stay of the NCLAT’s directions on February 3, the SC had sharply criticised WhatsApp LLC and Meta Platforms over their data-sharing practices, and said they were making a “mockery” of India’s “constitutionalism”. It asked them to “opt out of the country” if they could not address concerns around privacy and consent.
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