India: National Company Law Appellate Tribunal issued order in WhatsApp LLC v Competition Commission of India, temporarily suspending the five-year ban on sharing user data for advertising purposes (Case No. IA 280 of 2025)

On 23 January 2025, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in New Delhi issued an order in Interim Application No. 280 of 2025, filed by WhatsApp LLC seeking to stay the effect and operation of the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) order dated 18 November 2024. CCI found Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp in violation of Section (2) of the Competition Act, 2002 on abuse of dominant position and imposed a penalty of INR 213.14 crore. It also prohibited Meta from sharing user data for advertising purposes with Meta companies for five years. The NCLAT order has stayed the five-year ban on sharing user data for advertising purposes, highlighting that the ban could disrupt WhatsApp's business model, which offers free services. However, the order upheld certain provisions of the CCI order including WhatsApp being required to provide complete information on data sharing purposes and allow users to opt out of non-advertising data sharing. Additionally, the order directed WhatsApp to deposit 50% of the penalty imposed by CCI within two weeks, considering 25% of the fine had been deposited.