Meta faces potential feature rollbacks in India due to antitrust ruling

Meta Platforms Inc. may be forced to "roll back or pause" some of its features in India following an antitrust directive by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), per a Reuters report. The CCI banned WhatsApp from sharing user data with Meta for advertising purposes, a decision that Meta is now challenging in court.

In a November ruling, the CCI found that Meta abused its dominant position and "coerced" WhatsApp users into accepting a 2021 privacy policy update. This update allegedly expanded user data collection and sharing, giving Meta an unfair advantage over competitors. The CCI imposed a $24.5 million fine and a five-year ban on the data-sharing practice in India, a crucial market for Meta with over 350 million Facebook users and more than 500 million WhatsApp users.

While publicly defending its policy change and contesting the CCI order, Meta's appeal filing reveals significant concerns about the ruling's impact. The company argues that the ban on WhatsApp-to-Meta data sharing will severely hinder its ability to offer personalized ads on Facebook and Instagram.

For example, Meta asserts that an Indian fashion business would no longer be able to personalize ads on Facebook or Instagram based on a user's interactions with the business on WhatsApp. The filing states that implementing the CCI's remedy "will likely require Meta to roll back or pause several features and products," impacting the company's and WhatsApp's "ability to remain commercially viable."
Facebook India Online Services, the entity responsible for selling advertising inventory in India, reported revenue of $351 million in 2023-24, its highest in at least five years.

Meta's appeal will be heard by the Indian appeals tribunal on Thursday. While the legal process could be lengthy, the tribunal has the power to temporarily suspend the CCI's directive.