NCLAT to hear Meta’s plea against ₹213 crore CCI fine on WhatsApp privacy policy on 16 Jan
Live MintA bench of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal is set to hear on 16 January an appeal by Meta Platforms against an order by India’s competition regulator that levied a penalty on the US tech giant for allegedly abusing its dominant position. Meta Platforms, formerly known as Facebook, approached the NCLAT on Monday against the order of the Competition Commission of India, which asked the company to pay a penalty of ₹213.14 crore for abusing its dominant position in relation to the 2021 privacy policy update of its messaging app WhatsApp. For purposes other than advertising, WhatsApp’s policy should include a detailed explanation of the user data shared with Meta group companies or products, specifying the purpose, the CCI said. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission imposed a fine on WhatsApp in 2021 for a previous privacy policy update requiring users to accept these terms, before the EU rolled out its General Data Protection Regulation in 2018, as reported by Mint on 14 October. The CCI said WhatsApp’s policy update, which was presented on a “take it or leave it” basis, imposed an unfair condition by compelling all users to accept expanded data collection terms and the sharing of data within the Meta group without any opt-out.