The Supreme Court has rejected a request from social media platforms Facebook and WhatsApp‘s parent company Meta Platforms Inc, challenging an investigation ordered by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) into WhatsApp’s 2021 updated privacy policy.

Judges M R Shah and Sudhanshu Dhulia said the CCI was an independent process until it could not stop and dismiss a petition against the Delhi High Court decision in favour of an investigation ordered by the state competition watchdog.

“We listened to the advice. There is no need to ask this court to intervene. The CCI is an independent body that considers any breach of the provisions of the Competition Act 2002; the Cannot Prevent Investigation and Suspected Competition Act 2002,” the judge said.

The judge said any opinion of the High Court should be considered prima facie/primary evidence. The Delhi High Court on September 28 rejected Facebook India’s request for an investigation into WhatsApp’s 2021 update of its privacy policy ordered by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

Facebook India has moved closer to a single bench after a division of the High Court in August rejected its application for enforcement in related matters and granted it the freedom to challenge the CCI order through a separate written petition.

On August 25, a chamber judge rejected WhatsApp and Facebook Inc’s appeals against a single-judge order rejecting their challenge to a CCI-ordered probe into the messaging platform’s updated privacy policy.

Facebook India, the Indian unit of US-based Facebook Inc (now Meta Platforms), has argued that the CCI has included it in its ongoing investigation of Facebook Inc and WhatsApp. However, it has not formed any preliminary opinions against it.

In April last year, a high court judge refused to block the CCI’s investigation into petitions from WhatsApp LLC and Facebook Inc (now Meta Platforms).

In January last year, at its sole discretion, CCI investigated WhatsApp’s updated privacy policy based on news reports. The antitrust watchdog said its investigation involved WhatsApp sharing user data with Facebook in an anti-competitive manner.

It also defended investigations into Facebook and related to WhatsApp’s privacy policy, saying the former, the messaging platform’s holding company, may have used shared data.