India, Feb. 3 -- The Supreme Court came down heavily on online messaging giant WhatsApp saying it will not allow the "exploitation" of personal data of even a single Indian citizen and that platform sharing data with its parent company - Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) - was a way of "theft" of personal information.

Senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for WhatsApp, countered by saying that users were given a choice to "opt out" or disallow the platform from sharing their personal data with Meta companies, HT reported separately. However, the top court pointed out that the opt-out policy was too technical and complicated for most citizens to understand, adding that consumers were effectively forced to share their personal data.

Th...