MESSAGING platform WhatsApp on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it will comply with the directions issued by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) requiring the platform to provide users greater control over whether their data is shared with other Meta companies. A special bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi permitted WhatsApp and its parent company Meta Platforms to withdraw their interim applications against the CCI penalty after the companies undertook to implement the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) order, which extended CCI’s privacy and consent safeguards to advertising-related data sharing. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for WhatsApp and Meta, informed the apex court that the companies had filed an affidavit explaining their data-sharing practices and had decided not to press their plea seeking a stay of the NCLAT order.

 

“We don’t want a stay now. We are complying with the directions,” he submitted, adding that the company would ensure implementation of the appellate tribunal’s directions by March 16, 2026. Recording the submission, the CJI Surya Kant-led Bench dismissed the interim applications as not pressed, while clarifying that the main appeals challenging the validity of WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy would remain pending before the Supreme Court.

 

It also directed WhatsApp to file a compliance affidavit before the CCI in terms of the NCLAT order. In November 2025, the NCLAT upheld the CCI’s finding that WhatsApp had imposed unfair conditions on users through its 2021 privacy policy and that cross-platform data sharing strengthened Meta’s position in the online display advertising market. It affirmed the Rs 213.14 crore penalty but set aside the CCI’s direction imposing a five-year blanket ban on sharing WhatsApp user data for advertising purposes.