India’s Supreme Court to WhatsApp: ‘You cannot play with the right to privacy’
India’s top court is investigating WhatsApp’s data-sharing model, monopoly power, and user consent.
The comments were made as Meta appealed a penalty imposed over WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy. The judges repeatedly asked the company how users can meaningfully consent to data-sharing practices in a market where the app is pretty much the default communications platform.
With more than 500 million users, India is WhatsApp’s largest market and a key growth area for Meta’s advertising business. Judges in the case question the potential commercial value of metadata generated by the platform, and how such data could be monetized across Meta’s wider advertising and AI functions.
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