India: Issued ruling in CCI investigation into Meta over its anti-competitive practices in the 2021 WhatsApp privacy policy update

On 18 November 2024, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) issued a ruling against Meta for anti-competitive practices linked to WhatsApp's 2021 privacy policy update. The ruling imposes a penalty of INR 213.14 crore (approx. USD 25.4 million) and prohibits WhatsApp from sharing user data with Meta's other applications for advertising or other non-service-related purposes for a period of five years. It also mandates Meta to ensure that data-sharing practices do not impose unfair conditions on users and to submit regular compliance reports to the CCI. Previously, the Supreme Court ruled that the CCI can conduct an antitrust investigation on its own initiative into Whatsapp/Meta regarding the 2021 Whatsapp privacy updates. The CCI argued that users are presented with unilateral “take it or leave it” terms, as they are required to accept mandatory data sharing with Facebook without transparency or consent. Furthermore, the CCI noted that the data-sharing provision could have exclusionary effects in the display advertising market, potentially undermining competition.