Meta-CCI Row: Following the Competition Commission's imposition of a Rs 213 crore penalty on Meta in connection with WhatsApp's privacy policy, the company said it disagrees with the regulator's choice and plans to appeal. For five years, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) asked WhatsApp on Monday to avoid sharing user data with other Meta-owned applications for advertising purposes.

In 2021, India's competition regulator imposed a Rs. 213.14 crore penalty on the social media giant for unfair business practices in connection with the revision of WhatsApp's privacy policy. The competition regulator has furthermore ordered Meta to stop anti-competitive practices. The CCI order also asked Meta and WhatsApp to implement certain behavioural remedies within a set time frame to address anti-competitive issues.

"As a reminder, the 2021 update did not change the privacy of people's messages and was offered as a choice for users at the time. We also ensured no one would have their accounts deleted or lose functionality of the WhatsApp service because of this update," the Meta spokesperson said.

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A Meta representative said the firm disagrees with the CCI's decision and plans to file an appeal. According to Meta, the update was meant to provide optional business features on WhatsApp and provide greater transparency concerning data collection and usage.

A Meta spokesperson stated that since then, WhatsApp has been extremely valuable to people and enterprises, allowing organizations and government entities to deliver citizen services throughout Covid and beyond, and also assisting small businesses in propelling India's economy forward. Meta supports WhatsApp, and it does all of this.

The Meta representative added that they are devoted to finding a path forward that allows them to continue to provide the experience that people and companies expect from them. WhatsApp has been barred by the CCI from sharing data collected on its platform with other Meta companies or Meta company products for advertising purposes for five years, meanwhile.

On sharing WhatsApp user data for purposes other than advertising, the regulator stated that WhatsApp's policy should include a detailed description of user data shared with other meta companies or meta company products.

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(With Agencies Inputs)