Meta on Tuesday said that it disagrees with the Rs 213 crore fine levied on it by the Competition Commission of India for abuse of its dominant position, and will appeal against the order.
The penalty pertains to the controversial implementation of WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy, which mandated data sharing between WhatsApp and other Meta firms like Facebook. The same had raised concerns about user privacy and market fairness.
“As a reminder, the 2021 update did not change the privacy of people’s personal messages and was offered as a choice for users at the time. We also ensured no one would have their accounts deleted or lose functionality of the WhatsApp service because of this update,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.
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The 2021 privacy policy required users to accept expanded data collection and mandatory sharing with Facebook to continue using WhatsApp, removing the opt-out option available under the 2016 policy.
The CCI ruled this “take-it-or-leave-it” approach as an unfair condition, constituting a violation of Section 4(2)(a)(i) of the Competition Act, 2002.
Later, post an uproar over Meta’s policy and interference by the government, Meta kept showing the notification to accept its privacy policy to WhatsApp users but did not block those who did not accept.
In its response, Meta said, “the update was about introducing optional business features on WhatsApp, and provided further transparency about how we collect and use data”.
In its order, CCI also said that WhatsApp’s privacy policy should include a detailed explanation of the user data shared with other Meta companies, which should specify the purpose of data sharing, linking each type of data to its corresponding purpose.
Analysts and policy experts said, while the company can appeal the order, it will have to comply with data sharing limitations and purpose norms as per the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act. Further, the proposed Digital Competition Bill also is expected to regulate the space.
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