India: National Company Law Appellate Tribunal partially upheld Meta and WhatsApp appeal on penalty and data-sharing order

On 4 November 2025, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) issued a ruling that partly upheld and partly modified the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) order from 18 November 2024 concerning Meta and WhatsApp. The Tribunal confirmed the INR 213.14 crore fine imposed on Meta but overturned the finding that the company had breached Section 4(2)(e) of the Competition Act. It also removed the restriction that would have banned WhatsApp from sharing user data with other Meta companies for advertising purposes for five years. At the same time, the NCLAT upheld the rest of the CCI’s directions, requiring WhatsApp to remain transparent about how it shares user data with other Meta entities, to avoid making data sharing for non-service purposes a mandatory condition for using its services in India, and to provide users with clear options to review, modify, or opt out of such data sharing within the app. The Tribunal also ruled that all future WhatsApp policy updates must comply with these requirements, and that each party will bear its own legal costs.