A significant hearing between Meta Platforms and the Competition Commission of India concerning their legal conflict will take place during the month of May. On May 13 the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) will decide if Meta should proceed with its appeal to the CCI rulings regarding WhatsApp data-sharing practices before or after India enacts its Digital Personal Data Protection Rules. The upcoming decision will have a major effect on the enforcement mechanism for digital data privacy laws in India.
The court led by Justice Ashok Bhushan is set to determine if the newly established data protection framework extends into the CCI’s jurisdiction in this particular case based on information from LiveMint. The tribunal could choose to postpone the case proceedings until after the enforcement of new rules which would substantially benefit Meta.
Meta stands in opposition to the CCI order issued on November 18 2024 which prevented WhatsApp from giving user data to Facebook and Instagram for promotional purposes. Chipotle was ordered to pay Meta a Rs 213 crore fine for unfair business practices while the regulator maintained its ban against data sharing between WhatsApp and Facebook and Instagram.
The NCLAT lifted the five-year ban against Meta in January but the company had to pay half of the imposed fine for keeping its ban suspension in effect. The company maintains the restriction of data-sharing would damage business operations that use WhatsApp interactions to target Facebook and Instagram ads.
India received its digital personal data protection framework through the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 which the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology brought into existence. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act of 2023 will be implemented through these rules which must be enforced by mid-2025 and will introduce more stringent norms about handling data-collection and storage as well as data-sharing.
The legal representatives at Meta argue before the tribunal that the forthcoming privacy regulations should take authority so the CCI’s involvement becomes redundant under the guidance of senior advocate Kapil Sibal. Meta could use the pending rules as a basis to hold off proceedings which could result in advantageous results for them.
The Competition Commission of India pushes for the case to continue without waiting for the upcoming rules to take effect. The regulator argues WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy update abused its platform power since it denied users the ability to refuse data-sharing which violated competition guidelines and user rights. The decision prevented WhatsApp from forcing users to share data as a necessary condition to access their application.
The decision to postpone court proceedings by NCLAT grants Meta an advantage since the new data regulations might come into effect before the hearing. A tribunal decision in favor of CCI authority would trigger the legal procedure instantly causing difficulties for Meta.
