Regulators
WhatsApp agrees to follow CCI data safeguards after Supreme Court hearing
Company assures compliance by 16 March, ending long privacy row
NEW DELHI: In a notable climbdown, WhatsApp and its parent company Meta have told the Supreme Court of India that they will comply with the data privacy safeguards ordered by the Competition Commission of India by 16 March 2026.
The assurance draws a curtain, at least for now, on the long-running dispute over WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy update that sparked outrage for its so-called take-it-or-leave-it approach to data sharing.
At the heart of the controversy was a simple question: should users be forced to share their data with other Meta platforms such as Facebook and Instagram in order to keep using WhatsApp? Regulators said no. WhatsApp has now agreed.
Under the revised framework, users will get meaningful consent options. They can opt in or opt out of sharing their data with Meta companies for purposes beyond running WhatsApp’s core services, including advertising. The company must also spell out, in plain terms, what data is being shared, with whom, and why.
Crucially, consent will not be a one-way street. Users will be able to withdraw it at any time. Access to WhatsApp cannot be tied to agreeing to share data for non-essential purposes. In short, no more bundled bargains.
The case has taken a winding legal route. In November 2024, the CCI fined Meta Rs 213.14 crore for abusing its market dominance and imposed a five-year ban on data sharing for advertising. A year later, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal upheld the fine but replaced the blanket ban with a regime centred on user consent safeguards, later clarifying that these apply to both advertising and non-advertising data.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court delivered a sharp rebuke, reportedly calling the mandatory data sharing a mockery of constitutionalism and likening it to a polite form of theft. Facing the risk of having their appeal dismissed, Meta and WhatsApp withdrew their plea for interim relief and agreed to implement the safeguards by mid-March.
For millions of Indian users, it is about control. The decision promises greater say over how personal data travels across the Meta ecosystem. For rivals in the digital advertising market, it is about fair play. The CCI had argued that WhatsApp’s vast user base gave Meta an edge that competitors could not match.
The broader backdrop is India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, still in the process of full implementation. This case sets an early benchmark for how global technology firms may be expected to handle user data in the country.
The main appeal challenging the legality of the 2021 policy and the Rs 213 crore fine is still pending before the Supreme Court. For now, however, WhatsApp has agreed to rewrite the rules of consent in India. Whether that marks a turning point or merely a pause in the battle remains to be seen.
I&B Ministry
India turns up the heat on piracy, orders Telegram to axe 3,142 channels and blocks 800 websites
New legal teeth, nodal officers and notices to intermediaries signal that the government is done playing nice with copyright thieves
NEW DELHI: India’s war on film piracy just got significantly more aggressive. The government has ordered Telegram to remove 3,142 channels distributing pirated content, blocked access to around 800 websites through internet service providers, and put the full weight of freshly sharpened legislation behind the crackdown. The message from New Delhi is unambiguous: the free ride for copyright thieves is over.
Minister of state for information and broadcasting L. Murugan spelled out the legal architecture to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The Cinematograph (Amendment) Act, 2023, he said, now contains specific provisions designed to make piracy a genuinely painful proposition. Sections 6AA and 6AB prohibit unauthorised recording and transmission of films, with violations attracting a minimum of three months’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 3 lakh. At the upper end, offenders face three years behind bars and fines of up to 5 per cent of a film’s audited gross production cost — a figure that, for a big-budget production, could run into crores.
The legislation also gives the government powers to act against intermediaries hosting infringing content, by notifying them under Section 79(3) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and compelling takedowns and blocking actions. Under Section 79(3)(b), intermediaries are legally required to remove or disable access to unlawful content upon receiving government notice or court orders. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, add a further layer of obligation, requiring platforms to ensure their services are not used to host or distribute content that violates copyright or proprietary rights.
To put enforcement into practice, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has established a dedicated institutional mechanism, complete with nodal officers to receive complaints. Copyright holders, authorised representatives or individuals can report piracy through a prescribed format, after which the government issues notices to intermediaries to disable access to infringing links.
The most headline-grabbing action came on 11 March 2026, when Telegram was formally notified under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act and directed to remove and disable 3,142 channels found to be distributing unauthorised content belonging to OTT platforms, content owners and producers. The complaints that triggered the action came from OTT platforms including JioCinema and Amazon Prime Video, which alleged that copyrighted films, web series and other material were being shared on the platform on a massive scale. Telegram’s architecture, with its large file-sharing limits and capacity for user anonymity, has made it a favoured vehicle for exactly this kind of large-scale piracy.
The Telegram action sits within a broader pattern of escalating enforcement. Just days before the Lok Sabha statement, the ministry banned five OTT platforms for streaming obscene content: MoodXVIP, Koyal Playpro, Digi Movieplex, Feel and Jugnu. In July 2025, the Centre ordered the blocking of 25 OTT platforms accused of streaming obscene, vulgar or pornographic material, a list that included ALTT, ULLU, Big Shots App, Desiflix, Boomex, Navarasa Lite, Gulab App, Kangan App, Bull App, Jalva App, ShowHit, Wow Entertainment, Look Entertainment, Hitprime, Feneo, ShowX, Sol Talkies, Adda TV, HotX VIP, Hulchul App, MoodX, NeonX VIP, Fugi, Mojflix and Triflicks.
Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, provides the regulatory hook for those actions, prohibiting platforms from hosting content that is obscene, pornographic, invasive of privacy, gender-harassing, racially or ethnically objectionable, or that promotes hatred and violence.
For an industry that loses billions of rupees annually to piracy, the direction of travel is welcome. The question, as always, is not whether the laws exist, but whether the enforcement machinery can keep pace with the ingenuity of those determined to circumvent it. Three thousand channels down, and the pirates are already busy opening three thousand more.
