The parent company of WhatsApp, Meta, has been fined Rs 213.14 crore by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for allegedly abusing its power to enforce the messaging app’s 2021 privacy policy. CCI’s position against the company’s user privacy practices is reflected in the punishment, which was issued on Monday.
According to the CCI’s ruling, user data was gathered and sent to other Meta-owned businesses in violation of competition regulations. The regulator issued cease-and-desist orders to both Meta and WhatsApp and instructed them to undertake certain behavioral remedies within a certain timeframe.
WhatsApp notified users in January 2021 of a modified privacy policy that expanded data collecting and sharing between Meta entities and required consent for ongoing usage. Due to the strict data privacy rules in the EU, WhatsApp users were spared from this need, unlike users in India who were not given the choice to opt out.
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