There had been much controversy over WhatsApp’s privacy policy which allowed it to share WhatsApp data with Meta’s other businesses, but it has finally been resolved by India’s anti-trust body.
The Competition Commission of India has imposed a fine of Rs. 213.14 crore on Meta for abusing its dominant position with regards to owning WhatsApp. CCI’s decision relates to how WhatsApp’s Privacy Policy of 2021 was implemented, which allowed user data collected from WhatsApp to be shared with other Meta companies. The CCI ruled that WhatsApp’s sharing of data with other entities gave Meta an unfair advantage over competitors. CCI has now issued cease-and-desist directions, and also directed Meta and WhatsApp to implement certain behavioural remedies within a defined timeline
In 2021, WhatsApp had updated its privacy policies which allowed it to share user data with other Meta platforms like Facebook and Instagram. WhatsApp had shown repeated pop-ups to Indian users urging them to accept the new privacy policy. “WhatsApp is updating its terms and privacy policy,” WhatsApp’s messages had then said. They had gone on to say that the new terms will carry updates on how WhatsApp processes users’ data, how businesses can use Facebook hosted services to store and manage WhatsApp chats, and how WhatsApp will partner with Facebook to offer integrations across Facebook company products. Rather egregiously, WhatsApp had given users an ultimatum, and said that they’d need to accept the new policy by 8th February to continue using the service.
There had been quite a bit of misgivings about WhatsApp’s new policy. For starters, WhatsApp hadn’t let users know when they’d signed up for the service that their data would be made available to other products, and had only made the change known once WhatsApp had nearly 500 million users in India. Experts too had expressed concerns about the privacy policy update — Facebook knows what your interests are, and what kind of things you like; WhatsApp, on the other hand, knows who your friends are, and who you talk to. Putting these two enormously powerful datasets together could help Facebook deliver better ads on Facebook, and perhaps eventually look at adding ads in WhatsApp as well. But the integration of these two datasets would’ve made it extremely hard for other companies to compete in trying to target and reach users.
The CCI had begun looking into the case, and it has now not only imposed a Rs. 213 crore ($25 million) fine on Meta, but also directed it to take remedial action. This would come as a blow for Meta — India is by far its largest market, and this ruling would suggest that it would be unable to use WhatsApp’s data for its business operations. Crucially, this is Meta’s second big defeat at the hands of Indian regulators — Facebook had earlier tried to impose its Free Basics plan in India which would’ve essentially turned India’s internet into a walled garden that was controlled by Facebok, but after a public outcry the project had been rejected by Indian authorities. And with WhatsApp’s policy update adventures now earning Meta a $25 million fine, it appears that Meta finding it hard to outmaneuver the regulators in its biggest market.