CCI Order Against WhatsApp threatens Business Model, Meta Tells NCLAT

American company Meta has told NCLAT regarding the Competition Commission of India (CCI) order against the privacy policy of instant messaging app WhatsApp that this will harm its business model. Meta has alleged that CCI did not do adequate impact analysis before issuing the order. WhatsApp is owned by Meta.

During the hearing in the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) CCI It argued that if its order is stayed, it would set a dangerous precedent. Meta said that the model of data sharing among its group companies is not bad and WhatsApp is a free app and it has to earn revenue in some way. A petition related to the almost four-year-old privacy policy of WhatsApp is being heard in the Supreme Court.

Meta said that due to the order of CCI, along with the rights of the users, its rights are also being curtailed. On this, CCI said that it has analyzed its impact before giving the order and this order is not going against the case going on in the Supreme Court. CCI said that the Supreme Court is hearing this matter from the perspective of Article 21 of the Constitution, while CCI has investigated the matter from the perspective of competition. In Europe, Meta has given users the option to accept or not the terms related to the privacy policy. However, users in India do not have the option to withdraw their consent to this policy.

In November last year, CCI had imposed a penalty of Rs 213.14 crore on Meta for misusing its dominant position. This matter is related to the privacy policy of instant messaging platform WhatsApp implemented about four years ago. CCI had also directed Meta and WhatsApp to take some improvement measures within a certain period. Under this policy, data sharing between WhatsApp and other Meta firms like Facebook was made mandatory. Due to this, questions were raised regarding the privacy of users and fairness in the market.