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Indian tribunal order a big relief for Meta

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Antitrust ruling banned data sharing between WhatsApp and

Meta

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Meta's appeal against the antitrust order will be heard in

March

(Adds details of impact on business, revenue and context

paragraph 2, 8-12)

By Arpan Chaturvedi

NEW DELHI, Jan 23 (Reuters) - An Indian tribunal

temporarily suspended a five-year data sharing ban between

WhatsApp and owner Meta Platforms ( META ), a major relief for

the U.S. giant which had warned its advertising business will be

affected.

Meta had challenged the Competition Commission of India's

(CCI) directive issued in November that imposed a ban on data

sharing between WhatsApp and other Meta entities for advertising

purposes, warning it may have to roll back some features. Meta

also criticized the CCI for not having the "technical expertise"

to understand the ramifications of its order.

On Thursday, India's National Company Law Appellate

Tribunal ordered a suspension of the data sharing ban while it

continues to hear Meta's challenge to the antitrust ruling.

The ban "may lead to a collapse" of WhatsApp's business

model, the tribunal noted.

India is the biggest market for Meta where it has more than

350 million Facebook users and over 500 million people using

WhatsApp.

Meta earlier told the appeals tribunal that it may have to

"roll back or pause" some features such as those that would

allow an Indian fashion business, for example, to personalize

ads on Facebook or Instagram based on their interaction with a

WhatsApp user.

Facebook's registered entity engaged in selling

advertising in India - Facebook India Online Services - reported

revenue of $351 million in 2023-24, the highest in at least five

years.

A Meta spokesperson said it welcomed the ruling and "will

evaluate next steps." The CCI did not immediately respond to a

request for comment on the ruling, although the watchdog can

challenge the decision in the Supreme Court if it wants to.

In 2021, WhatsApp was accused of violating European

Union laws by failing to clarify changes to its policy in plain

and intelligible language. It later agreed to explain the

changes to EU users.

The Indian case started in 2021 amid criticism of

WhatsApp's privacy policy changes. The CCI's ruling in November

found WhatsApp's policy pushed users to accept the change or

risk losing access to the service.

Meta has argued the changes were only to provide

information about how optional business messaging features work

and did not expand its data collection and sharing ability.

The watchdog however ordered in November that WhatsApp

must allow users to decide whether they want the messaging

service to share data with Meta or not.