CCI Imposes Rs 213.14 Crore Fine on Meta: Check Out Whats The Reason

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed a hefty amount of fine on Meta for exploiting WhatsApp privacy policy. CCI said that the penalty is imposed on Meta in context of WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy which involved controversial data collection, In addition, the social-media giant was sharing data with Meta’s other entities. The CCI asked WhatsApp to not share user’s personal data to other entities, owned by Meta.

CCI has imposed a penalty of Rs 213.14 crore (approximately $25.25 million) on Meta. Meta revised its privacy policy in 2021 and forced users to accept it under which they are expanding their data collection and sharing within the Meta group on a ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ basis. The company said in 2021 either to accept the policy or stop using the app which forced users to accept WhatsApp’s privacy policy.

The forced consent of accepting their privacy policy does not signifies voluntary agreement to all the specific processing or use of personalised data, as provided in the present policy, according to CCI. The CCI considers WhatsApp a dominant player in the internet-messaging and that is the reason the company should include a detailed explanation of using user data or sharing it on Meta’s other platform.

The regulator has also asked public feedback on making some amendments to its old penalty recovery regime. CCI said that the feedback and comments will be accepted till June 6. CCI said in it’s statement, “Based on the experience gained during implementation of these regulations over the years and to streamline the process of recovery, certain amendments are deemed fit to be incorporated in the said regulations.”

The CCI accepts that WhatsApp presence in India is dominant as it requires not just a user to migrate to other platforms, but their friends, family members, and every loved one in their life. The difficult in this task puts WhatsApp a dominant instant-messaging service provider in the market.