Copyright newsbytesapp
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has given partial relief to Meta Platforms and its messaging service, WhatsApp. The decision comes in a high-profile competition case related to WhatsApp's 2021 privacy policy update. While the tribunal upheld the ₹213.14 crore penalty imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), it overturned key findings of dominance and lifted a five-year ban on user-data sharing for advertising purposes. Back in November 2021, the CCI found WhatsApp guilty of abusing its dominant position in India's OTT-messaging market. This was after a take-it-or-leave-it update was forced in January 2021. The update made sharing user data with other Meta entities mandatory, removing an earlier opt-out option. The CCI concluded this move weakened competition in the online display-advertising market and imposed a ₹213.14 crore fine on WhatsApp, while banning it from sharing user data for ad purposes for five years. The NCLAT bench, led by Chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan and Technical Member Arun Baroka, struck down parts of the CCI's order pertaining to Section 4(2)(e) of the Competition Act. It also overturned the data-sharing ban mentioned in paragraph 247.1 of the decision. The tribunal said these findings were set aside, but upheld other directions given by the CCI. The NCLAT acknowledged Meta's argument that the data-sharing ban could threaten WhatsApp's free-to-use business model. It also noted that data protection issues may be beyond CCI's jurisdiction. A Meta spokesperson welcomed the decision, reiterating that WhatsApp's 2021 privacy policy update did not compromise the privacy of people's personal messages which remain end-to-end encrypted.
