Competitors watchdog CCI has approached the NCLAT to hunt readability over its latest judgment within the WhatsApp case, and requested whether or not the order implies that consumer consent is required in circumstances the place information is used for promoting or for non-advertising functions.
Earlier this month, the appellate tribunal granted partial reduction to WhatsApp after setting apart a bit of the order by the truthful commerce regulator. that had banned the moment messaging app from sharing information with Meta Platforms for promoting functions for 5 years.
Nonetheless, the NCLAT had retained ₹213 crore penalty on the social media platform and upheld WhatsApp’s 2021 coverage breach of Part 4(2)(a)(i) and 4(2)(c) because it constituted abuse of dominance by the moment messaging app and created a scenario of market denial.
The matter had come earlier than a two-member bench of the NCLAT on Tuesday, which had handed the order on November 4, 2025, on which it had issued discover to Meta and WhatsApp, whose counsel had been current within the tribunal.
The Nationwide Firm Legislation Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has directed to checklist the matter on November 25, for the subsequent listening to of the Competitors Fee of India’s (CCI) plea in search of clarification.
When contacted, CCI counsel Samar Bansal informed PTI they need a clarification as as to if consumer consent is required if his information is used for promoting functions or for non-advertising functions.
“Now, in our understanding, what the NCLAT has principally mentioned, in a nutshell, is that consumer consent is paramount and that no matter whether or not the info is getting used for promoting functions or for every other non-advertising functions, please take consumer consent. That’s what the NCLAT holds in numerous elements of the order,” he mentioned.
Nonetheless, in Para 264, the concluding a part of the judgment, the discovered courtroom has mentioned that Para 247.1 of the unique CCI order is put aside and 247.2 is upheld. The impact of that is that now consumer consent is required for WhatsApp sharing consumer information for non-advertising functions, however there’s nothing being spoken of in any respect, someway, for promoting functions.
“So, we’ve merely moved an utility that the courtroom should make clear what it meant, and truly, what its order already says is that consumer consent have to be taken no matter whether or not WhatsApp is sharing information, consumer information with different Fb corporations for promoting functions or for non-advertising functions. That’s the one easy clarification we’ve requested,” he mentioned.
NCLAT, in its 184-page-long order, mentioned that cross-platform information sharing between WhatsApp and Meta enhanced Meta’s benefit within the show promoting market, creating an entry barrier for rival companies in digital promoting that didn’t have equal entry to WhatsApp information.
Nonetheless, it had additionally mentioned CCI “order holding breach of Part 4(2)(e) will not be sustainable”, because it can’t be concluded that Meta has leveraged its dominance in a single market (OTT messaging) to guard or lengthen dominance in one other (on-line show promoting), as WhatsApp and Meta are distinct authorized entities.
In November final 12 months, the CCI imposed a penalty of ₹213.14 crore on social media main Meta with respect to the WhatsApp privateness coverage replace finished in 2021.
Meta Platforms and WhatsApp challenged this order earlier than the NCLAT, which, in January this 12 months, handed an interim order, staying the five-year ban imposed by the CCI on data-sharing practices between WhatsApp and Meta for promoting functions, providing a breather to the tech large.
Printed – November 20, 2025 09:40 am IST