On Monday, WhatsApp instructed the Supreme Courtroom it could adjust to instructions requiring it to present customers larger management over the information they share with different Meta entities similar to Fb and Instagram, ending a years-long battle with the Competitors Fee of India over its controversial privateness coverage replace in 2021.
The replace, which required WhatsApp customers to consent to having their knowledge shared with Meta for promoting and non-advertising functions, rapidly drew the eye of the competitors watchdog, resulting in a landmark case that raised questions on dominance, consent and consumer selection in India’s wider digital economic system.
Right here’s why Meta backed down this week, and what it means for Large Tech accountability in India.
What sparked the difficulty?
In 2021, Meta launched a controversial replace to its privateness coverage for WhatsApp, requiring customers to simply accept new phrases – together with expanded knowledge assortment and necessary knowledge sharing with Meta firms – in the event that they wished to proceed utilizing the platform.
This triggered a backlash worldwide, however particularly in India, WhatsApp’s largest market. The Competitors Fee of India (CCI) quickly ordered a probe, saying the coverage replace might represent an abuse of WhatsApp’s dominant place in on the spot messaging.
WhatsApp challenged the probe, arguing that privateness issues had been already being deliberated by constitutional courts and remained past the jurisdiction of competitors legislation. The case ultimately reached the Delhi Excessive Courtroom and the Supreme Courtroom, which allowed the CCI’s investigation to proceed, holding that competitors considerations might be examined independently of parallel privateness proceedings.
What did the CCI probe conclude?
Following an in depth investigation by its investigative arm, the CCI handed its ultimate order in opposition to WhatsApp and Meta in November 2024.
It concluded that WhatsApp had abused its dominant place by successfully making data-sharing necessary and curbing consumer selection. It imposed a mixed wonderful of greater than ₹200 crore on WhatsApp and Meta, and directed the corporate to stop gathering knowledge for promoting functions. This is among the important competitors rulings in opposition to a worldwide know-how platform in India.
How did Meta reply?
WhatsApp and Meta challenged the ruling earlier than the Nationwide Firm Legislation Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), in search of aid from each the CCI’s wonderful and behavioural cures. The appellate tribunal granted the corporate restricted interim aid however didn’t keep the core instructions requiring adjustments to data-sharing practices. Throughout hearings earlier this month, the Supreme Courtroom criticised Meta and WhatsApp, saying they might not “play with the fitting to privateness of residents within the identify of information sharing”.
Going through regulatory stress and several other ongoing proceedings, WhatsApp has now agreed to completely adjust to the technical instructions, even because it continues to battle the “abuse of dominance” label and the related wonderful in court docket. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, showing for Meta, instructed the Supreme Courtroom the corporate would implement the CCI instructions by 16 March.
Why has Meta backed down now?
India is WhatsApp’s largest market. In line with World Inhabitants Evaluation, the platform had about 1.2 billion month-to-month customers worldwide and roughly 854 million in India in 2024, up sharply from 487.5 million in 2021.
Statista estimates WhatsApp’s whole consumer base grew to three.3 billion in 2025. Whereas up to date India-specific consumer figures are unavailable, internet site visitors knowledge highlights the nation’s significance. In November 2025, about 14.5% of WhatsApp’s 3.6 billion visits got here from India, second solely to Brazil, in line with knowledge from SimilarWeb cited by Demand Sage, an information reporting and analytics options supplier.
For Meta Platforms, risking a protracted confrontation with the CCI and welcoming broader scrutiny beneath India’s tightening digital rules would imply jeopardising a crucial progress market. Compliance ensures stability in a market that is just too massive to alienate.
What does this imply for India and Indian WhatsApp customers?
The case reinforces CCI’s authority over Large Tech and units an essential precedent for international know-how firms in India, signalling that Large Tech can not leverage consumer knowledge as an anti-competitive protect. It additionally strengthens consumer privateness not directly, by competitors legislation, by permitting Indian customers to decide on whether or not or not they want to share their WhatsApp knowledge with different Meta-owned entities similar to Fb and Instagram.