The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Monday imposed a fine of Rs 213.14 crore on social media company Meta. This fine was imposed for unfair business practices regarding the WhatsApp privacy update in 2021. Further, CCI has directed Meta to cease and desist from anti-competitive behaviour.
CCI has also instructed WhatsApp
The competition regulator on Monday imposed a fine of Rs on Meta. An order said a fine of Rs 213.14 crore was imposed. Passing the order against abuse of dominance, the CCI said the fine pertains to how WhatsApp implemented its 2021 privacy policy, how it collected user data and shared it with other comp.es in the market.
WhatsApp alone has over 500 million monthly active users in the country
On the other hand, CCI has also directed WhatsApp not to share user data collected on its platform with other meta products or comp.es for advertising purposes for five years. Due to this order of CCI, META i.e. WhatsApp has got a big blow. WhatsApp alone has over 500 million monthly active users in the country.
Such allegations were made on Meta
After investigating over three and a half years, CCI found that WhatsApp’s ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ policy update was not justified. This forced all users to accept the extended data collection terms and share data in the Meta group without any opt-out. CCI said that this update brought by Meta forces the users to implement it. Undermines their autonomy, and abuses the dominant position of the META. According to the Commission, Meta (via WhatsApp) violated Article 4(2)(a)(i).
