Meta Platforms on Tuesday declared its disagreement with a ruling by India’s competition watchdog that restricted data exchange between WhatsApp and its other apps, adding it will take the matter to court.
TakeAway Points:
- Meta Platforms said on Tuesday it disagreed with an order by India’s competition watchdog that placed data-sharing restrictions between WhatsApp and its other applications and said it would legally challenge the order.
- The European Commission fined Meta Platforms €797.72 million ($840.24 million) over abusive practices benefiting Facebook Marketplace, it said in a statement.
- Meta said it will appeal the decision, but in the meantime, it will comply and will work quickly and constructively to launch a solution that addresses the points raised.
- The EU decision argues that Meta imposes Facebook Marketplace on people who use Facebook in an illegal “tie,” but Meta said that argument ignores the fact that Facebook users can choose whether to engage with Marketplace, and many do not.
Meta disagree with India Ruling
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) directed WhatsApp to refrain from sharing user data for advertising purposes with other Meta-owned applications for five years and fined the U.S. tech giant $25.4 million on Monday over antitrust violations related to the messaging application’s 2021 privacy policy.
The CCI had begun an investigation into WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy in March that year. The policy allowed data sharing between Meta and its units, sparking a global backlash.
“Sharing of user data collected on WhatsApp with other Meta companies… for purposes other than for providing WhatsApp service shall not be made a condition for users to access WhatsApp Service in India,” the CCI said on Monday.
A spokesperson for Meta said on Tuesday that the 2021 update did not change the privacy of people’s personal messages.
“We also ensured no one would have their accounts deleted or lose functionality of the WhatsApp service because of this update,” the spokesperson said.
EU Fines Meta €797 Million Over Abusive Practices On Facebook
Meta Platforms was fined €797.72 million ($840.24 million) for engaging in abusive acts that benefitted Facebook Marketplace, according to the European Commission.
“The European Commission has fined Meta… for breaching EU antitrust rules by tying its online classified ads service Facebook Marketplace to its personal social network Facebook and by imposing unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers,” the European Commission said.
Meta said it will appeal the decision, but in the meantime, it will comply and will work quickly and constructively to launch a solution that addresses the points raised.
The move by the European Commission comes two years after it accused the U.S. tech giant of giving its classified ads service Facebook Marketplace an unfair advantage by bundling the two services together.
The European Union opened formal proceedings into possible anticompetitive conduct of Facebook in June, 2021, and in December, 2022, raised concerns that Meta ties its dominant social network Facebook to its online classified ad services.
Facebook marketplace
Facebook launched Marketplace in 2016 and expanded into several European countries a year later.
The EU decision argues that Meta imposes Facebook Marketplace on people who use Facebook in an illegal “tie,” but Meta said that argument ignores the fact that Facebook users can choose whether to engage with Marketplace, and many do not.
Meta said the Commission claimed that Marketplace had the potential to hinder the growth of large incumbent online marketplaces in the EU but could not find any evidence of harm to competitors.
Companies risk fines of as much as 10% of their global turnover for EU antitrust violations.
