WhatsApp Abused Dominant Position: Competition Commission to NCLAT
The appellate tribunal NCLAT has completed hearing and reserved its order on the appeals filed by Meta Platforms and WhatsApp, challenging the CCI's penalty on the social media major for the 2021 WhatsApp privacy policy update.
Earlier, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) had told to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that Meta’s size, resources and integration of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp places it far ahead of competitors, making WhatsApp the dominant force in India’s market for messaging apps. WhatsApp’s reach and daily engagement levels, reinforced by powerful network effects, ensure that users remain locked into the service. Even if consumers install multiple apps, activity remains concentrated on WhatsApp, since switching requires persuading entire networks of contacts to migrate, a hurdle few can overcome.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) was hearing the petition by the tech giant Meta, which challenged a penalty of Rs. 213.14 crore on the social media major for unfair business practices with respect to the WhatsApp privacy policy update done in 2021.
