WhatsApp, Facebook pleas against CCI dismissed by HC, here’s why

Delhi High Court has denied the appeals made by Facebook and WhatsApp over the Competition Commission of India (CCI) investigation. The amended privacy policy for the Meta-owned instant messaging platform from 2021 was the subject of a CCI investigation order. 

The single judge's ruling was well-reasoned, according to a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad, and the appeals lack merit. A single judge had earlier in April of last year declined to suspend the CCI's inquiry into the petitions filed by WhatsApp and Facebook. The bench had kept the order reserved on July 25, 2022, after the completion of the submissions by all sides.

The antitrust agency had stated that the investigation's focus was on WhatsApp's anti-competitive sharing of user data with Facebook, not concerns with privacy rules, and that the investigation could not be obstructed by a court process

WhatsApp’s claim:

Based on news reports, the CCI independently decided to investigate WhatsApp's amended privacy policy in January of last year.

WhatsApp had claimed before the court's division bench that the CCI cannot look into a policy that has been put on hold while waiting for the outcome of the Data Protection Bill and the rulings of the Supreme Court and the High Court about the policy's legality.

Facebook’s claim:

Facebook had argued that there was no evidence to support the case made against it and that the CCI could not conduct a "creeping" investigation against it.

However, the CCI had argued that its investigation into the new privacy policy should be permitted to move forward because the policy has not been withdrawn and because there is no chance that the investigation will conflict with the Supreme Court proceedings, which deal with issues of alleged violations of user privacy.

It had also defended the probe against Facebook as well as in connection with WhatsApp's privacy policy, saying the former is the holding company of the messaging platform and can "potentially exploit the data being shared".

Before the single judge, WhatsApp and Facebook had challenged the CCI's March 2021 order directing a probe against them.

Dismissing the petitions, the single judge had opined that although it would have been "prudent" for the CCI to await the outcome of the petitions in the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court against WhatsApp's new privacy policy, not doing so would not make the regulator's order "perverse" or "wanting of jurisdiction".

On January 3, while dealing with the appeals against the single-judge order, a bench headed by then Chief Justice DN Patel had extended the time for filing replies by Facebook and WhatsApp to two CCI notices of June 2021, asking them to furnish certain information for the purpose of the inquiry conducted by it.

(with inputs from PTI)