The Supreme Court of India has strongly criticised Meta Platforms Inc and its messaging arm WhatsApp while hearing their appeals against a penalty imposed over their privacy policy, saying technology companies cannot play with the right to privacy of citizens in the name of data sharing.
A bench said it would pass an interim order on February 9 and directed that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology be added as a party to the case.
The court was hearing appeals by Meta and WhatsApp challenging a ruling of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, which had upheld the findings of the Competition Commission of India on abuse of dominant position, while offering limited relief related to advertising-linked data sharing.
During the hearing, the bench observed that the right to privacy is strongly protected in India and said the privacy terms were so cleverly drafted that an ordinary user would find them difficult to understand.
