NEW DELHI, FEB 3: The Supreme Court issued a stern warning to Meta Platforms Inc and WhatsApp on Tuesday, asserting that technology corporations are not permitted to compromise the privacy of Indian citizens under the guise of data sharing.
The bench, led by Chief Justice Surya Kant and including Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, expressed dissatisfaction while hearing appeals against a Competition Commission of India (CCI) ruling. The CCI had previously slapped a Rs 213.14 crore penalty on the firms regarding their privacy policy. The court has now scheduled an interim order for February 9 and directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to join the proceedings as a party.
The Chief Justice addressed the companies directly during the hearing, stating the court’s intent to protect citizen data. “You can’t play with the right of privacy of this country in the name of data sharing. We will not allow you to share a single word of the data, either you give an undertaking…you cannot violate the right of privacy of citizens,” the CJI said.
The court further noted that privacy terms are often written in a complex manner that escapes the understanding of the average user. The bench mentioned that the current practices appeared to be a sophisticated method of obtaining private information without clear consent.
“This is a decent way of committing theft of private information, we will not allow you to do that… You have to give an undertaking otherwise, we have to pass an order,” the CJI said.
The ongoing legal battle follows a judgment from the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal which had supported the CCI’s findings of dominant position abuse by the tech giants.
