News Technology Meta disagrees with antitrust ruling of India on WhatsApp, set to face legal battle

Meta disagrees with antitrust ruling of India on WhatsApp, set to face legal battle

Meta has announced plans to legally challenge the Indian Competition Commission's order restricting data sharing between WhatsApp and other Meta apps. The ruling imposed a USD 25.4 mn fine, to prevent WhatsApp from sharing user data for advertising across Meta platforms for 5 years.

Meta Image Source : REUTERSMeta

Meta Platforms said that it disagreed with an order by India's competition watchdog that placed data-sharing restrictions between WhatsApp and its other applications and said it would legally challenge the order.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) directed WhatsApp to refrain from sharing user data for advertising purposes with other Meta-owned applications for five years and fined the U.S. tech giant USD 25.4 million on Monday over antitrust violations related to the messaging application's 2021 privacy policy.

The CCI had begun an investigation into WhatsApp's 2021 privacy policy in March of that year. The policy allowed data sharing between Meta and its units, sparking a global backlash.

"Sharing of user data collected on WhatsApp with other Meta companies... for purposes other than for providing WhatsApp service shall not be made a condition for users to access WhatsApp Service in India," the CCI said on Monday.

A spokesperson for Meta said on Tuesday that the 2021 update did not change the privacy of people's messages.

"We also ensured no one would have their accounts deleted or lose functionality of the WhatsApp service because of this update," the spokesperson said.

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Inputs from Reuters