SC Adjourns WhatsApp-Meta Privacy Case Over ₹213 Crore Penalty to Feb 23
February 9, 2026
The Supreme Court on Monday, February 9, 2026, postponed the WhatsApp-Meta privacy policy case to February 23, 2026. A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant agreed to the delay after counsel informed that senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing WhatsApp and Meta, was unwell.
The case involves appeals by Meta Platforms and WhatsApp against a Competition Commission of India (CCI) order. The order imposed a ₹213.14 crore penalty for alleged violations of user privacy related to their privacy policy.
Earlier, on February 3, 2026, the Supreme Court warned Meta and WhatsApp they cannot violate the right to privacy of millions of Indian users by sharing and exploiting personal data. During the hearing, the three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant called the data sharing a “decent way of committing theft,” adding, "you must have taken away millions of bytes of data."
Meta and WhatsApp, represented by senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Amit Sibal, disagreed strongly. They said that users could "opt-out" from data sharing and that prior consent was essential. WhatsApp also highlighted that all messages are end-to-end encrypted.
The Supreme Court’s next hearing is slated for February 23, 2026.
Read More at Thehindu →
Tags:
Supreme court
Whatsapp
Meta
Privacy policy
Cci Penalty
Data protection
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