An Indian court on Thursday lifted restrictions that would have prevented WhatsApp from sharing user data with its parent company Meta, marking a major victory for Mark Zuckerberg’s social media empire in its largest market by users.
The ruling by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal temporarily lifts a five-year ban imposed by India’s antitrust regulator, which had accused WhatsApp of abusing its market dominance through its 2021 privacy policy. .
India is the largest market for Meta and WhatsApp. More than 700 million users in India use WhatsApp every month, according to data from Sensor Tower.
In November, India’s Competition Commission found that WhatsApp’s take-it-or-leave-it privacy update constituted an abuse of Meta’s dominant position by forcing users to agree to expanded data collection without an opt-out option. voluntary.
At the time, the watchdog found that Meta dominated two key markets in India: so-called “over-the-top” messaging apps via smartphones and online display advertising.
While it lifted the ban on Thursday, the court ordered Meta to deposit about $12.35 million (half of a larger fine) within two weeks. The court will next hear the case on March 17.
The court, headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, expressed concern that the five-year ban could threaten the business model of WhatsApp, which provides free messaging service to users.
Meta’s lawyers argued that India’s upcoming digital privacy law, expected to come into force later this year, should govern these issues rather than competition rules.
“We welcome the decision of the NCLAT to grant a partial stay on the Competition Commission of India (CCI) order. “While we will evaluate next steps, our focus remains on finding a path forward that supports millions of businesses that depend on our platform for their growth and innovation, as well as delivering the high-quality experiences that people expect from WhatsApp,” said a Meta spokesperson in a statement.
The dispute began when WhatsApp required users to agree to share expanded data with Meta platforms or risk losing access to the messaging service. While European users can opt out of sharing information, Indian users cannot, a distinction that regulators found problematic.