A court has temporarily suspended a five-year data sharing ban between WhatsApp and other platforms imposed by Indian regulator
Meta, the owner of the Whatsapp, Facebook and Instagram, has been given temporary relief by an Indian tribunal over a decision by the country’s regulator to restrict its ability to collect user data and share it with its own companies.
India’s National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on Thursday temporarily lifted the five-year ban on sharing data, imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in November 2024.
The ban was a part of target directive issued by the CCI after a series of complaints and concerns regarding WhatsApp’s privacy policy updates, particularly its data-sharing practices with other Meta platforms. CCI also imposed a $250 million penalty on the US tech giant for “abusing its dominant position.”
The ban will remain suspended while the tribunal continues to review Meta’s appeal against the antitrust ruling, according to Reuters. The tribunal was of the view that the data sharing ban could potentially lead to a collapse of WhatsApp’s business model.
According to the CCI’s directive, Meta “coerced” WhatsApp users into accepting a 2021 privacy policy that allegedly expanded user data collection and sharing, thereby giving the company an unfair advantage over its competitors. Meta reportedly countered the CCI ruling and said that the ban could result in hurting users as certain features may have to be rolled back.
A Meta spokesperson welcomed Thursday’s ruling. However, industry watchers predicted that the CCI would challenge the decision in the country’s Supreme Court.
With over 350 million Facebook users and more than 500 million WhatsApp users, India is Meta’s largest market. Facebook India Online Services, responsible for advertising sales in the country, reported $351 million in revenue for the 2023-24 period, serving both large corporations and small businesses.
Earlier this month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrongly commented that India was one of the countries where the incumbent administration lost an election in 2024. The company later apologized and called it an “inadvertent error.”
