Meta Appeals Antitrust Ruling Amidst Data Privacy Debate

Meta Platforms is appealing an antitrust ruling by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), which fined the company $24.5 million and banned it for five years from sharing WhatsApp user data with Meta's other platforms. The CCI accused Meta of abusing its dominant position by coercing users into accepting an expanded privacy policy that increased data sharing for advertising purposes. This ruling could significantly disrupt Meta's business model in India, its largest market, affecting its ability to provide personalized ads on Facebook and Instagram. Meta argues that the CCI lacks the technical expertise to understand the implications of the ruling and contends that the data-sharing policy is necessary for efficient business feature integration. The company is challenging this decision, citing potential hindrances to service delivery and asserting that the order should await India's new Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, expected mid-2025. Meta's appeal also highlighted that similar privacy policies were accepted in Europe without issue, suggesting a need for consistent regulatory approaches.