Delhi HC dismisses WhatsApp, Facebook appeals against CCI probe

The Delhi High Court on August 25 dismissed appeals filed by WhatsApp and Facebook challenging Competition Commission of India's probe against WhatsApp's 2021 updated privacy policy.

The bench said that the appeals were devoid of merit.

This order paves the way for the CCI to proceed with its investigation against the social media companies.

The division-bench's ruling comes on an appeal filed by WhatsApp and its parent company Meta (formerly Facebook). The appeal challenged a single-judge bench order that allowed Competition Commission of India to proceed with its probe against WhatsApp's updated privacy policy introduced in 2021.

In January 2021, WhatsApp had announced its updated privacy policy which would allow the company to share data concerning user interaction with business accounts with Facebook.

It was stipulated that non-acceptance of the updated privacy policy would result in gradually and ultimately deletion of WhatsApp accounts of users.

This policy kickstarted a probe by the anti-trust watchdog for alleged anti-competitive practices and abuse of dominant position by the companies.

When the single-judge bench allowed for the probe, CCI issued notices to WhatsApp and Facebook pertaining to the investigation. On an appeal filed before a division-bench, the social media giants received respite and the division-bench extended the deadline for the companies to file their replies to CCI.

On merits of the case, WhatsApp took an undertaking before the court that it would not make its privacy policy mandatory until the time the Parliament passes a law on data privacy and protection. Moreover, the company stressed that the chats on the platform are end-to-end encrypted and it is not the content of the chat but certain data that would be shared with Facebook.

On the other hand, CCI's case was that the body is not probing the privacy aspect of the policy but the impact it has on competition. Sharing of such data would give undue advantage to WhatsApp and facebook and this could have an appreciable adverse effect on the competition.

The CCI also highlighted that the interim order of extended deadline had in effect brought the probe to a standstill which led to the high court observing that the probe has not been stayed and can proceed.