Meta disagrees with India antitrust ruling on WhatsApp, to mount legal challenge

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November 19, 2024 4:05 AM EST

FILE PHOTO: Facebook's new rebrand logo Meta is seen on smartpone in front of displayed logo of Facebook, Messenger, Intagram, Whatsapp, Oculus in this illustration picture taken October 28, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

(Reuters) -Meta Platforms said on Tuesday it disagreed with an order by India's competition watchdog that placed data-sharing restrictions between WhatsApp and its other applications and said it would legally challenge the order.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) directed WhatsApp to refrain from sharing user data for advertising purposes with other Meta-owned applications for five years and fined the U.S. tech giant $25.4 million on Monday over antitrust violations related to the messaging application's 2021 privacy policy.

The CCI had begun an investigation into WhatsApp's 2021 privacy policy in March that year. The policy allowed data sharing between Meta and its units, sparking a global backlash.

"Sharing of user data collected on WhatsApp with other Meta companies... for purposes other than for providing WhatsApp service shall not be made a condition for users to access WhatsApp Service in India," the CCI said on Monday.

A spokesperson for Meta said on Tuesday that the 2021 update did not change the privacy of people's personal messages.

"We also ensured no one would have their accounts deleted or lose functionality of the WhatsApp service because of this update," the spokesperson said.

(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)


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