WhatsApp tells Supreme Court it does not share data with Meta

Instant messaging platform WhatsApp argued in the Supreme Court on Monday (23 February 2026) that it is “not quite accurate” to say that the online presence shares data with other Meta platforms.

Appearing before the three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Kapil Sibal, senior advocate for WhatsApp and parent company Meta, said its technology is very clear and gives importance to privacy. Mr. Sibal said, “There is no violation of law.”

He also stated that the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act 2023 comprehensively addresses the privacy concerns raised in the Supreme Court.

The court was hearing petitions filed by Meta and WhatsApp against the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s (NCLAT) order upholding the Rs 213.14 crore penalty imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

CCI had found that the “take it or leave it” approach in WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy was an abuse of market dominance. It found that users were asked for prior permission to share their data with “generated” Meta. It concluded that users were forced to share data for continued access to WhatsApp messaging services.

In an appeal filed last year, NCLAT concluded that “the fundamental principle is to eliminate abuse by restoring user choice.”

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

WhatsApp on Monday, February 23, 2026, said it will fully comply with NCLAT guidelines on user consent to share data with parent company Meta under the controversial 2021 privacy policy by March 16, 2026. However, the court found CCI’s five-year ban on data sharing for advertising purposes “unnecessary” considering that the user was already given the option to opt-in or opt-out.

WhatsApp made a comprehensive statement explaining its end-to-end encryption technology, following Bench’s harsh verbal comments at the previous hearing on February 3.

The Bench had warned that it would not allow the platform and Meta to violate the privacy rights of millions of its “silent consumers” in India through sharing and commercial use of personal data. He even compared the sharing of private data to “a plausible way to commit theft.”

Although WhatsApp and Meta protested that users could ‘opt-out’ of the data-sharing provision, the court persisted in its criticism.

Madhavi Goradia Divan, senior lawyer of CCI, said that the case is also worrying in terms of competition law.

Ms. Divan said, “Data sharing has many aspects. One of them may be privacy and data protection. However, there is another aspect, protecting the market and the consumer, this stands on a completely different ground.”