06:52 AM EST, 01/23/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Meta Platforms' ( META ) WhatsApp messaging service won a reprieve in India on Thursday when the country's National Company Law Appellate Tribunal suspended a fine and data sharing ban that was imposed on the platform by the Competition Commission of India.

The antitrust regulator, in November, imposed a fine of 2.13 billion Indian rupees ($25 million) on Meta and banned WhatsApp from sharing data within the Meta group, concluding that WhatsApp "abused its dominance" and unfairly compelled users to agree to certain privacy policy changes.

According to the regulator, the policy changes enabled comprehensive data collection and sharing within the Meta group.

Meta has challenged the ruling, and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has suspended the fine and data sharing ban while it considers the social media company's appeal, with the next hearing scheduled for March 17.

Meta Platforms ( META ) and WhatsApp did not immediately respond to MT Newswires' requests for comments.