CCI Layout in Opposition to Whatsapp Threatens Trade Fashion, Meta Tells NCLAT

The American company META has told NCLAT that this will harm its business models against the order of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against the privacy policy of instant messaging app Whatsapp. META has alleged that the CCI has not analyzed adequately to its impact before issuing the order. Meta is owned by WhatsApp.

During the hearing at the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), the CCI argued that if its order is banned, it would set a dangerous example. META reported that the model of data sharing between its group companies is not bad and WhatsApp is a free app and has to achieve revenue in some way. In the Supreme Court, a petition related to the first four year old privacy policy of WhatsApp is being heard.

META said that with the order of CCI, its rights are being cut along with the rights of users. On this, CCI said that it has analyzed its effect before ordering and this order is not going against the case going on in the Supreme Court. The CCI said that the Supreme Court is listening to the matter from the perspective of Article 21 of the Constitution, while the CCI has investigated the matter in terms of competition. In Europe, Meta has given users the option to obey or not to accept the conditions related to privacy policy. However, users in India do not have the option to withdraw it after giving consent for this policy.

In November last year, the CCI imposed a penalty of Rs 213.14 crore to misuse its dominated situation on Meta. The case is related to the privacy policy implemented about four years ago of the instant messaging platform Whatsapp. The CCI also instructed Meta and WhatsApp to take some measures to improve in a certain period of time. Under this policy, data sharing was made mandatory between other firms of META like WhatsApp and FB. This raised questions about the privacy of users and fairness in the market.