Meta challenges Rs 213 crore CCI penalty at NCLAT, calls order legally flawed and beyond competition law scope

Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, on Thursday submitted before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that the competition watchdog's decision to impose a ₹213 crore penalty on it last year, following a conclusion that the US-headquartered social media and communication services firm abused its dominant position, was legally incorrect and outside the ambit of competition law.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) in its November 2024 order said that with the 2021 update of Meta's policy, allowing the company access to user data across platforms, "led to both the denial of market access to advertisers... and leveraging its dominance in the messaging market to protect and consolidate its position". Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Meta Platforms, argued that the CCI went into the question of privacy and data sharing, which fell outside the ambit of the Competition Act. "CCI has entrenched upon an aspect of the matter that has nothing to do with competition. Abusive practice has nothing to do with the data privacy policy of the platform," said Sibal.

He also said that the competition watchdog failed to conduct an effect-based analysis test and that it didn't identify a single anti-competitive practice followed by Meta. "There is no analysis on the extent of alleged anti-competitive effects caused by the 2021 policy update, let alone evidence that those effects have actually materialised. For example, the impugned order doesn't provide any evidence of actual harm to advertisers, competitors or the advertising market," argued Sibal.


On WhatsApp's 2021 policy update, which allegedly compelled its users to share data with Meta or stop using its service, Arun Kathpalia, appearing for the instant messaging app, argued that there was a clarification issued by WhatsApp in May 2021 to the effect that users' accounts would not be deleted if they didn't accept the updated policy.