CCI vs. Meta: Appellate court to rule on WhatsApp data sharing

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has scheduled January 23rd for a decision on tech giant Meta's appeal against a Competition Commission of India (CCI) order. In November 2022, the CCI imposed a penalty of Rs 213.14 crore on Meta for alleged anti-competitive practices related to WhatsApp's privacy policy.
During the court proceedings, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Mukul Rohatgi argued that the CCI had overstepped its jurisdiction by ruling on the privacy policy, as the matter was already sub-judice before the Supreme Court of India. Sibal contended that the CCI order was detrimental to WhatsApp's business model and would become irrelevant after the implementation of the Data Privacy Law in mid-2025.
However, advocate Samar Bansal, representing the CCI, argued that the Supreme Court case and the CCI's investigation were distinct and did not overlap.
In early 2021, Meta introduced a revised privacy policy that required users to share their data with other Meta entities, including phone numbers, contacts, and transaction details. The CCI deemed this a "abuse of dominant position" by WhatsApp, asserting that it hindered competition from rival firms in both the OTT messaging market and the online display advertising market.