It’s Wednesday morning, February 4, 2026, and if you’re a Meta executive in India, “Log Out” probably feels like the only safe option right now. The Supreme Court just turned a routine appeal into a constitutional reckoning, basically telling WhatsApp that its user agreement is a legal “mockery.”
The thing is, the court isn’t just looking at the ₹213 crore penalty anymore. It’s looking at the very soul of how Big Tech treats Indian data. Or nothing.
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The “Lion vs. Lamb” Hearing: Field Notes
It’s an ongoing situation where the highest court in the land just called out the power imbalance between a trillion-dollar MNC and a “poor vegetable vendor.” Here’s the ground reality from Tuesday’s hearing:
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The “Theft” Allegation: Chief Justice Surya Kant didn’t mince words, calling WhatsApp’s data-sharing model a “decent way of committing theft.” He’s demanded a written undertaking from Meta’s management that they won’t share “a single word” of user data for commercial gain. Those too.
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The “Lamb and Lion” Analogy: The court laughed off the idea that users have a “choice” to opt out. The CJI noted that because WhatsApp has a total monopoly, the agreement is like a deal between a lion and a lamb—you either agree to be “eaten” (data shared) or you leave the country’s social fabric entirely.
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The Metadata Loophole: While WhatsApp’s lawyers kept banging the “End-to-End Encryption” drum, Justice Bagchi wasn’t buying it. He pointed out that even if they can’t read the texts, the behavioural trends and metadata footprints are being monetized to fuel Meta’s ad engine. And then the “targeted prescription ads” anecdote from the CJI followed.
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The DPDP Act Reality Check: Meta tried to hide behind the new Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, but the bench reminded them that the rules aren’t even fully in force yet. Let’s be real—the court is treating this as a Constitutional privacy violation, not just a regulatory slap on the wrist. Or nothing.
WhatsApp vs. CCI: The Legal Ledger (Feb 2026)
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| Event | Status | Details |
| ₹213.14 Cr Penalty | Deposited | Held in the SC Registry; withdrawal blocked. |
| NCLAT Ruling | Challenged | Both Meta and CCI have appealed the Nov 2025 verdict. |
| User Data Sharing | Status Quo? | SC warned of a total ban if an undertaking isn’t filed. |
| Next Hearing | Feb 9, 2026 | Meta must file an affidavit on its data practices. |
And Here’s the Kicker…
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta hit the nail on the head: “We feel we are consumers, but we are products.” The thing is, the court is now impleading the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to see if the government needs to step in with an even heavier hand.
One side comment—the CJI mentioned a personal experience where messaging a doctor about feeling “under the weather” led to immediate medical ads on his feed. It’s a bit messy when the Chief Justice himself is getting targeted by the algorithm. Authentic, but a massive tactical error by Meta’s data engine. It’s an ongoing situation. Or nothing.
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End…
