NCLAT to decide Meta's plea against CCI's Rs 213.14 cr penalty on Jan 23
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Mukul Rohatgi appeared for the court appearing, and during its course, they contended that the CCI had overstepped its jurisdiction by ruling on WhatsApp's privacy policy.
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The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal highlighted that on January 23, it would decide on the application filed by tech company Meta of a Competition Commission of India (CCI) order that imposed a penalty of Rs 213.14 crore on Meta in November 2022.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Mukul Rohatgi appeared for the court appearing, and during its course, they contended that the CCI had overstepped its jurisdiction by ruling on WhatsApp's privacy policy. This was because the matter was sub-judice before a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, highlighted a media report.
Sibal was of the opinion that the order was destroying the business model of WhatsApp. Since data privacy law would come into effect in mid-2025, the orders of CCI would hold no relevance since the dispute would then be governed by the privacy law.
However, advocate Samar Bansal, who appeared for the CCI, as mentioned by the media report, highlighted that there was no overlap between the Supreme Court case and CCI's investigation.
In early 2021, Meta had introduced a new privacy policy that required users to share their data with Meta. As per the new policy, Meta was allowed to collect more user data which included phone numbers contacts and details surrounding transactions. CCI had termed it as "abuse of dominant position" by WhatsApp.
The CCI had observed that by collecting and sharing WhatsApp user data with other Meta entities, the company impeded rival firms from competing effectively in both the Over-The-Top (OTT) messaging market and the online display advertising market.
