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An Amerindic judicature on Thursday suspended limitation that would havebarred WhatsApp from share user datawith its parent caller Meta , delivering a pregnant triumph for Mark Zuckerberg ’s societal media empire in its declamatory marketplace by users .
The ruling by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal temporarily lifts a five - year ban visit by India ’s antitrust governor , which had accused WhatsApp of abusing its market dominance through its2021 privacy policy .
India is the largest mart for Meta and WhatsApp . More than 700 million people in the land use WhatsApp each month , according to data point from Sensor Tower .
The dispute began when WhatsApp required user to accept expanded data point sharing with Meta ’s platforms or risk turn a loss access to the message service . While European user can opt out of such sharing , Amerind user can not — a distinction that regulators found debatable .
In November , the Competition Commission of India determined that WhatsApp ’s “ take - it - or - leave - it ” privacy update institute an abuse of Meta ’s dominant position by forcing user to accept more panoptic data collection without an opt - out choice .
At the time , the guard dog notice Meta was dominant in two key market in India : “ over - the - top ” messaging apps through smartphones and online show publicizing .
While staying the ban on Thursday , the tribunal ordered Meta to deposit about $ 12.35 million — half of a larger penalization — within two weeks . The court will next get word the case on March 17 .
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The court , lead by Justice Ashok Bhushan , expressed concern that the five - class ban could imperil WhatsApp ’s business model , which provides the messaging service for free .
Meta ’s lawyers argued that India ’s forthcoming digital privacy law , expected to go into effect subsequently this year , should order such subject rather than competition pattern .
“ We welcome the NCLAT ’s decision to cede a partial stay on the Competition Commission of India ’s ( CCI ) order . While we will measure next steps , our focus remains on find a track forward that supports jillion of businesses that reckon on our platform for growth and design as well as render eminent - quality experiences that people expect from WhatsApp , ” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement .
