Supreme Court Criticizes WhatsApp and Meta for Monopoly Practices and Compulsory Data Sharing Policies: Explained

The WhatsApp-Meta Monopoly:
Judicial Oversight on Data Sovereignty

The Supreme Court of India’s recent observations regarding Meta-owned WhatsApp signal a critical pivot in India’s regulatory approach toward Big Tech. The Court has scrutinized the forced data-sharing policy, which compels users to share metadata with Meta-owned entities like Facebook and Instagram as a prerequisite for using the messaging platform. This "take it or leave it" approach is being viewed by the judiciary as a potential abuse of market dominance, threatening the fundamental right to privacy enshrined under Article 21.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) had previously flagged that WhatsApp’s massive user base in India—exceeding 500 million—creates a "lock-in effect". The Supreme Court's latest scrutiny reinforces the concern that users lack a meaningful choice to opt-out of data sharing due to the platform's utility as a primary communication tool. This dominance allows Meta to harvest cross-platform data, creating an unfair competitive advantage in the digital advertising market.

The legal debate centers on whether a private entity can mandate the surrender of personal data for an "essential" digital service. The Court’s slamming of Meta highlights that digital convenience cannot be traded for constitutional safeguards. With the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act now in effect, the judiciary is increasingly intolerant of "dark patterns" and "forced consent" models that undermine user autonomy.