WhatsApp tells the Supreme Court that it does not share data with Meta

Instant messaging platform WhatsApp insisted in the Supreme Court on Monday (February 23, 2026) that it is not “entirely correct” to say the online entity shares data with other meta-platforms.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal of WhatsApp and parent company Meta said the technology was very clear and placed a premium on privacy. “There is no question of breaking the law,” Mr Sibal said.

He further argued that the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, provides a comprehensive solution to the privacy concerns raised in the Supreme Court.

The court was hearing petitions filed by Meta and WhatsApp against a decision of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) to uphold a fine of ₹213.14 crore imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

The CCI had termed WhatsApp’s ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ approach as an abuse of its market dominance in its 2021 privacy policy. It found that users’ prior consent to share their data with Meta was “fabricated.” It had concluded that users were forced to share data for continued access to WhatsApp messaging services.

Last year, the NCLAT concluded in an appeal that the “core principle is to eliminate exploitation by restoring user choice”.

“The users can be given choice if users retain the right to decide what data is collected from them, for what purposes and for how long. We had also stated in our findings that non-essential collection or cross-use (such as advertising etc.) can only take place with the express and revocable consent of the user concerned,” the NCLAT had noted.

On Monday (February 23, 2026), WhatsApp said it would fully comply with NCLAT guidelines regarding user consent for sharing data with parent company Meta under its controversial 2021 privacy policy by March 16, 2026. However, the tribunal had ruled that the CCI’s five-year ban on sharing data for advertising purposes was “redundant” as the user had already been given the option to opt-in or opt-out.

WhatsApp has filed a lengthy affidavit explaining its end-to-end encryption technology, following scathing oral submissions by the Bench during the previous hearing on February 3.

The Bench had warned that it would not allow the platform and Meta to violate the right to privacy of millions of their ‘silent consumers’ in India by sharing and commercially exploiting personal data. It had even likened sharing private data to a “decent way to commit theft”.

Although WhatsApp and Meta had protested that users could opt out of the data sharing provision, the court stood by its criticism.

CCI senior advocate Madhavi Goradia Divan said there was also a competition law issue attached to the case.

“Data sharing has many facets. One of them may be privacy and data protection. But there is another aspect, protecting the market and consumers, which is on a completely different basis,” said Ms Divan.