Meta moves Supreme Court against NCLAT verdict upholding CCI’s ₹213 crore penalty over WhatsApp privacy policy

Meta Platforms Inc and WhatsApp have approached the Supreme Court challenging the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) judgment which had upheld the ₹213.14 crore penalty imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) over WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy.

The appeal brings the NCLAT’s ruling in the WhatsApp–CCI dispute under scrutiny before the apex court, including its findings on abuse of dominance and user data sharing with other Meta group entities.

In November 2024, the CCI held that WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy update amounted to abuse of dominance under the Competition Act, 2002. The regulator found that the “take-it-or-leave-it” policy compelled users to accept expanded data sharing with other Meta companies as a condition for continued access to WhatsApp.

The CCI imposed a penalty of ₹213.14 crore on Meta Platforms and issued a series of remedial directions. These included prohibiting WhatsApp from making data sharing with Meta group entities a condition for accessing its services in India, mandating clear opt-in and opt-out choices for users, and requiring detailed disclosures on the nature and purpose of data sharing.

Both Meta and WhatsApp challenged the CCI’s order before the NCLAT.

In January 2025, NCLAT stayed the penalty as well as the CCI’s five-year ban on data sharing, observing that such a ban could potentially disrupt WhatsApp’s business model, given that the platform is offered free to users.

In its final judgment delivered in November 2025, the appellate tribunal partly ruled in favour of WhatsApp by setting aside the CCI’s finding that Meta had leveraged its dominant position in the OTT messaging market to protect its position in online display advertising. However, NCLAT upheld the ₹213.14 crore penalty imposed by the competition regulator.

Subsequently, on a clarification application moved by the CCI, NCLAT restored the regulator’s user-choice safeguards and granted WhatsApp three months’ time to comply with the remedial directions.

The verdict has now been assailed before the apex court.

The appeal has been filed through Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.