Meta Platforms said on Tuesday 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 US tech giant ₹213.14 crore 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 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 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 personal messages. “We also ensured no one would have their accounts deleted or lose functionality of the WhatsApp service because of this update.”
In its order, the regulator directed Meta to implement behavioural changes within a specified timeline. The decision also mandated that WhatsApp allow Indian users to manage data sharing with Meta entities through an opt-out feature prominently displayed via in-app notifications.
