Meta: NCLAT to hear Meta’s plea against fair trade regulator’s penalty on Jan 16

Meta Platforms Inc on Monday moved corporate appellate tribunal NCLAT against the order passed by fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI), which imposed a penalty of Rs 213.14 crore for abuse of its dominant position. The petition was mentioned before a National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) bench which also comprised its Chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan.

Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Mukul Rohatgi appearing for Meta requested for an urgent hearing in the matter considering the importance and nature of the matter.

A three-member bench, which also consisted of technical members Barun Mitra and Arun Baroka, directed listing the petition on January 16 for hearing.

On November 18, the CCI had imposed a penalty of Rs 213.14 crore on social media major Meta for unfair business ways with respect to WhatsApp privacy policy update done in 2021.

Besides, the competition watchdog has directed Meta to cease and desist from anti-competitive practices.

Meta and WhatsApp have also been asked to implement certain behavioural remedies within a defined timeline to address the anti-competition issues, according to a CCI order.

The regulator has called for implementing various remedial measures, including barring WhatsApp from sharing data collected on its platform with other Meta companies or Meta company products for advertising purposes for five years.

Among other directions, CCI has said that sharing of user data collected on WhatsApp with other Meta companies or Meta company products for purposes other than for providing WhatsApp services shall not be made a condition for users to access WhatsApp service in India.