Meta to appeal ₹213 crore penalty by Indian regulator.

The Competition Commission of India asked WhatsApp to refrain from sharing user data with other applications, owned by Meta, for advertising purposes for a period of five years.

New Delhi:

Meta protests the Competition Commission’s ₹213-crore penalty over WhatsApp’s privacy policy and promises to appeal.

Monday, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) ordered WhatsApp to stop sharing user data with Meta-owned apps for advertising for five years.

India’s antitrust commission fined WhatsApp ₹213.14 crore for unfair business practices related to its 2021 privacy policy modification.

Additionally, the competition watchdog ordered Meta to stop anti-competitive conduct.

To address anti-competition issues, the CCI ordered Meta and WhatsApp to implement behavioral remedies within a deadline.

Meta will challenge the CCI’s ruling, according to a spokeswoman.

CCI Orders Meta to Clarify WhatsApp Data Sharing Practices

“Remember that the 2021 update allowed consumers a chance to keep their personal messages private. The Meta representative added no one would lose WhatsApp capability or have their accounts canceled due to this update.

Meta added that the update introduced optional business services on WhatsApp and provided more data collection and usage transparency.

Since then, WhatsApp has helped organizations and government entities supply citizen services through COVID and beyond and promote small enterprises in the India economy, according to the Meta spokeswoman.

Because of Meta-supported services, WhatsApp can perform all this.The Meta spokeswoman said they will continue to provide the experiences customers and companies want.

WhatsApp cannot share data with other Meta firms or Meta company products for advertising for five years, according to CCI.

The FCC advised WhatsApp to describe how user data is shared with other Meta firms or products for non-advertising purposes.

“This explanation should clarify the objective of data sharing, relating each category of data to its purpose,” it stated.

The watchdog also declared that Indian consumers cannot be asked to share WhatsApp user data with other Meta firms or Meta company products for non-WhatsApp reasons.

On sharing WhatsApp user data for reasons other than providing WhatsApp services, CCI said all Indian users (including those who have approved 2021 update) will have an opt-out option clearly displayed in an in-app notification.