the cci banned WhatsApp from sharing user data with Meta for advertising purposes

Meta, the company owned by Facebook and WhatsApp, has suffered a major blow in India. The Competition Commission of India i.e. CCI has banned WhatsApp from sharing user data with Meta. CCI accused Meta of abusing its position to force it to agree to the 2021 privacy policy. The move could affect Meta’s business in India, the world’s largest market, as WhatsApp is no longer allowed to share data for advertising purposes.

CCI fined Meta $24.5 million or around Rs 200 crore and banned data sharing for five years. This move becomes special for Meta as India is Meta’s largest market, where it has over 350 million Facebook users and over 500 million WhatsApp users.

Meta fears that such restrictions on data sharing could lead to a decline in personalized advertising on Facebook and Instagram. For example, there could be a reduction in the number of advertisements placed by Indian brands on Facebook and Instagram, which could result in the company’s revenue being diverted to India. Meta’s advertising revenue in India was around $351 million for the year 2023-2024. Meta will challenge the ICC order. However, this legal procedure can take several months. Meta faces many challenges on a global scale.

According to the CCI report, after this decision, some features of WhatsApp may be shut down. The company has not yet provided information on the losses caused by this decision. Meta said in its response that data collection or sharing was not occurring inappropriately. However, CCI believes that this policy requires users to accept it or risk losing access to WhatsApp. Criticizing CCI’s decision, Meta said no technical understanding was required to take such decisions. He should have consulted the company before making such a decision.