New Delhi: The Supreme Court strongly reprimanded Meta over WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy, warning the company not to compromise citizens’ data privacy and stating it should “exit India” if it cannot follow the Constitution. Hearing pleas linked to the Competition Commission of India’s ₹213 crore penalty, the court questioned whether WhatsApp’s policy could be understood by ordinary users, including the poor and uneducated.

The bench criticised alleged data-sharing for commercial purposes and expressed concern over how user information could be exploited, despite claims of end-to-end encryption by Meta. The case relates to the CCI’s finding that WhatsApp abused its dominant market position by forcing users to accept data-sharing terms, a penalty later upheld by the tribunal even as restrictions on data sharing were eased.