'Meta-WhatsApp should follow the rules, otherwise quit India': Supreme Court slams private policy; We will not allow the sharing of data of Indians

The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on Meta and WhatsApp over their privacy policies. "We will not allow you to share any information," the court said. You can't play with the rights of these countrymen. CJI Suryakant said, "If you can't follow our Constitution, then leave India. We will not allow the privacy of citizens to be compromised. A bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justices Joymallya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi was hearing Meta's petition. The petition pertains to WhatsApp's 2021 privacy policy, in which the Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed a fine of Rs 213.14 crore on Meta in November 2024. The penalty was also upheld by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). The Supreme Court bench has also asked the IT Ministry to be a party in the petition. The court will pass an interim order on February 9. CJI Suryakant said that the right to privacy of people is strictly protected in the country. The court said that the terms related to privacy in these apps are written so cleverly that the common man cannot understand them. This is a civilized way of stealing people's private information. "We will not allow you to do this," the court said. You have to give a clear assurance in this matter, otherwise the court will have to issue an order. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the government. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for Meta and Akhil Sibal appeared for WhatsApp. The duo said the fine amount has been deposited. The courtroom is LIVE... Mehta: Our personal data is not only sold but also used to make money from it. CJI: How will a woman who plows a street cart understand these rules? Have you thought about how difficult language you write? Every condition should be examined. CJI: Show me your mobile and I'll show you my mobile. This is a way of stealing private information. Ed. Arun Kathpalia: Not all the data is shared. Only certain specific data is shared. CJI: You know your advantage and you also know that you have made people addicted to the app. Everybody uses it. SG Mehta: There are only two options here - take or leave. Rohatgi: Can I file a one-page affidavit to tell the court what we are doing? The court can consider this and then decide. Justice Bagchi: When we examine the DPDP Act, the EU examines not only privacy, but also value. When data privacy is lost, they say it has no value. Please check this out. --------------------- also read this news... Question on WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption: Claim- Meta can see your private chats; WhatsApp's parent company Meta is once again under the scanner of privacy allegations. A new lawsuit filed in a federal court in San Francisco claims that the company can also access users' chats, which it claims to be completely secure by calling them end-to-end encrypted (E2E). Read the full story...