The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Monday imposed a fine of Rs 213.14 crore on internet media company Meta. CCI has directed WhatsApp not to share user data for advertising purposes with other companies owned by Meta for five years. The period of restriction will commence from the date of receipt of the order.
Action taken on anti-competitive activities
The country’s competition regulator has taken this action for anti-competitive activities of Meta (Meta fined by CCI). Meta had adopted unfair business practices and abused its dominant position in relation to updating WhatsApp’s privacy policy in 2021. CCI directs Meta to stop anti-competitive activities.
shared users’ data
In the order, CCI said that this fine has been imposed in the matter of implementing WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy, collecting user data and sharing it with other companies of Meta. Meta and WhatsApp have also been ordered to implement practical measures within a stipulated time-frame to address the anti-competitive issues. Meta Group dominates the messaging app market in India through WhatsApp.
Apart from this, it was also found that Meta holds the leading position in comparison to its competitors in online display advertising in India. From January 2021, WhatsApp informed users about updates to its terms of service and privacy policies.
Users will now have to accept the conditions
It also said that to continue using WhatsApp, users are required to accept these terms, which include mandatory data sharing with Meta’s companies. Earlier, under the previous privacy policy of 2016, WhatsApp users were given the option to decide whether they wanted to share their data with Facebook or not.
Due to lack of effective alternatives, users were forced to accept WhatsApp updates. In this way Meta misused his dominance. CCI said that all users in India (including those who have accepted the 2021 update) will have the option to manage data sharing through an opt-out option.