On Friday, October 14, 2022, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition of WhatsApp-Meta filed against ongoing investigation by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) into their privacy policies.

The bench, comprising of Justices MR Shah and Sudhanshu Dhulia, observed that "The CCI is an independent authority to consider any violation of the provisions of the Competition Act 2002. When having prima facie opined that it is a case of violation of 2002 Act and thereafter when the proceedings are initiated by the CCI, it cannot be said that the initiation of the proceedings of the CCI are wholly without jurisdiction. The precedent of the Supreme Court has held that the proceedings before the CCI are required to completed be at the earliest. In view of the above, the CCI cannot be restrained from proceeding further with the enquiry/investigation for the alleged violation of the Competition Act. All the contentions available to the parties are kept open. Any observation made by the High Court be considered as tentative/prima facie".

Senior Advocate, representing Meta, submitted that the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court is currently hearing a petition regarding the validity of Whats App's privacy policy, and the case has been listed for hearing in January 2023. He also stated that a new personal data protection bill will most likely be introduced in Parliament during the winter session. In light of this, the CCI should postpone issuing final orders in the case.

In response to this, Advocate appearing for the Central Government submitted that "We are a market regulator. We are examining if there is abuse of dominance by their privacy policy. Individuals use WhatsApp, whether the policy is right is pending. Data is being shared by whatsapp, they then advertise on basis of that. Article 21 has nothing to do with this. The concentration of data with them results in abuse."

The Supreme Court accepted AG N Venkatraman's submission and dismissed WhatsApp-Meta's petition against the investigation.