WhatsApp parent company Meta has expressed its disagreement today to the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) decision to impose a Rs 213 crore penalty on them over users’ privacy concern and also plans to appeal.
"As a reminder, the 2021 update did not change the privacy of people’s personal 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," said Meta spokesperson in a statement.
Meta also clarified that the update was about introducing optional business features business features on WhatsApp and provided further transparency about how they collect data.
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"And since that time, WhatsApp has been incredibly valuable to people and businesses, enabling organizations and government institutions to deliver citizen services through COVID and beyond, and as well as supporting small businesses, all of which furthers the Indian economy," the spokesperson noted.
"WhatsApp is able to do all of this because it offers services supported by Meta," the statement added.
Meta further stated that they will find a path forward that allows them to continue providing the experiences that "people and businesses have come to expect" from them.
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What Caused Trouble between Meta and CCI?
On Monday, CCI slapped a ₹213-crore penalty on Meta for abusing its dominant position through the 2021 update to WhatsApp’s privacy policy and thus violating the Competition Act.
"This relates to how WhatsApp's 2021 Privacy Policy was implemented and how user data was collected and shared with other Meta companies," CCI said in a press statement.
The CCI further issued cease-and-desist directions and directed Meta and WhatsApp to implement certain behavioural remedies within a defined timeline. The competition watchdog noted that WhatsApp’s 2021 policy update made it mandatory for users to accept the new terms, which includes data sharing with Meta, and removed the earlier option to opt-out, which is categorised as “unfair condition” under the Competition Act. It said that because of network effect and lack of effective alternatives, the policy update forced users to comply, undermined their autonomy and meant that Meta had abused its dominant position.
The CCI statement also highlighted that by sharing WhatsApp users’ data between Meta companies for purposes other than providing WhatsApp services created an entry barrier for Meta’s rivals, and resulted in the denial of market access in the display advertisement market.
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