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3 lessons from Supreme Court’s Meta ruling, ETCISO
On February 3, 2026, the Supreme Court of India sent a seismic shockwave through the global technology landscape. In a stern rebuke of Meta and WhatsApp’s “take-it-or-leave-it” privacy policy, the Supreme Court did more than adjudicate a dispute. It set a new constitutional floor for the digital economy. The message was crystal clear: “You cannot play with the right to privacy of this country”.
For companies building at the intersection of customer data and technology like fintech, this isn’t merely a legal update. It is a primal shift in how products must be built going forward. The era of “move fast and break things” is officially replaced with, “move fast and protect data privacy”.
Privacy by design is the new normal
The Supreme Court, hearing Meta and WhatsApp’s appeal against a recent National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, highlighted a major flaw in legacy tech thinking: the habit of treating data privacy as a legal checkbox, added just before the product launch. The court’s intervention makes it clear that privacy must now be a primary architecture requirement from day zero.
In fintech, where businesses handle the most intimate details of a person’s life, this requires moving beyond simple encryption. It calls for implementing data minimization and purpose limitation. What does this mean? It calls for fintechs to collect only what’s strictly necessary and use the data only for the stated purpose. Making these aspects core engineering principles is no longer optional.
It’s not only a requirement for legal compliance but also a matter of maintaining customer trust. Data reveals that 94% of organizations say their customers would not buy from them if their data were not properly protected. Privacy is not the “back-office” issue in 2026. It is the front-end competitive advantage.
Transparency is the antidote to ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ consent management
At the core of the Supreme Court’s frustration lay the lack of meaningful choice in Meta’s consent management policy. A ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ policy doesn’t amount to a contract but is essentially an ultimatum. In a mature digital ecosystem, consent must be granular, informed and revocable.
True transparency requires a firm departure from 50-page legalese that obfuscates, rather than informs users of where their data is going and how it will be used. This is precisely why business leaders must champion just-in-time notices, offering context-specific explanations at the moment the data is requested. When users understand why their data is needed and how it benefits them, friction disappears, reinstating a sense of agency.
Data as a trust asset, not a commodity
For far too long, businesses have viewed user data as the “now oil”, a commodity to be extracted, traded and analyzed. It’s this mindset that’s facing backlash from courts the world over, leading to stricter regulatory norms like GDPR in Europe, HIPAA in the USA and the DPDP Act in India. To thrive in the market after such backlash from India’s top court, businesses must start viewing data as a trust asset.
A commodity is owned by a business but a trust asset is managed on behalf of the user. Research emphasizes that organizations that treat data protection as a fundamental brand value see greater customer retention and quicker adoption of new services.
When businesses respect a user’s right to their digital identity, they aren’t simply ticking off a compliance checkbox but building a strong foundation for long-term loyalty. In FinTech, trust is the only currency that doesn’t devalue.
The way forward
The future belongs to technology platforms that prioritize user autonomy, integrate compliance into their architecture, and treat data privacy as a fundamental right. As we look toward the future, the question every CEO, CTO and product lead must ask themselves is not, “How much data can we leverage?” but “How much trust can we earn?” Doing this requires a thoughtful approach to consent management.
First, transition to a dynamic consent infrastructure, a middle layer, that decouples core service functionality from data monetization. It allows users to opt into specific data uses without losing service access. This is essentially a move from ‘manufactured consent’ to an informed partnership.
Second, concern for user privacy must be intuitive. It requires automated consent dashboards that replace 50 or 100-page legalese with plain language and visual controls. When a user can manage and revoke permissions with one click, trust is earned.
Finally, with the DPDP Act in full force, compliance calls for centralized audit-ready logs that track the entire lifecycle of consent. With the court’s reprimand, “privacy by design” is the only verifiable option.
The ruling on Meta and WhatsApp wasn’t simply a warning for tech companies. It was a blueprint for what data privacy should be. It’s time we start building accordingly.
The author is Tarun Nazare, Managing Director, Neokred.
Disclaimer: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETCISO does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETCISO shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person/organization directly or indirectly.
