The challenge of policing digital giants

On November 18, 2024, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) issued a landmark order imposing a fine of 2213.14 crore and forcing several behavioural remedies on Meta.

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This included a five year ban on sharing user data collected on WhatsApp with other Meta companies such as Facebook and Instagram, for advertising purposes. In turn, Meta approached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in an appeal against CCI’s order. The NCLAT, on January 23, 2025, granted a stay on the five-year ban from sharing user data and the penalty, subject to Meta depositing 50% of the total penalty.

The CCI's order found that the privacy policy update introduced by Meta’s subsidiary, WhatsApp, in 2021 was an abuse of dominant position in the “Over-The-Top (OTT) messaging services for smartphones” and “Online Display advertising” markets in India. This update required users to mandatorily consent to expanded data-sharing, allowing Meta to provide access to such data to all of its other platforms; forcing users to accept a data-sharing agreement ona “take-it-or-leave-it” basis, combined with the competitive advantage this data provides in online digital display advertising, constitutes an abuse of dominant position. The updated policy was viewed as a strategy to strengthen the market power of WhatsApp, potentially harming competition and hindering other messaging platforms from competing on equal terms.