The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has ordered the suspension of the five-year data sharing ban between WhatsApp and other Meta apps in India. Earlier, in November 2024, India’s antitrust authority – the Competition Commission of India (CCI) had imposed a ban on data sharing between WhatsApp and Meta’s other platforms for advertising purposes. At that time, the CCI also slapped a fine of $25.4 million (~ ₹213 Cr) on Meta over WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy update.
However, as soon as the CCI verdict came regarding the data sharing ban, Meta filed an appeal with the NCLT requesting to quash the Competition Commission of India’s November directive. The company argues that the data-sharing ban will negatively impact its advertisement business in the country.
In its appeal in front of the tribunal, WhatsApp boldly highlights that if the data sharing ban between WhatsApp and its other platforms (Facebook and Instagram) is enforced, the company may have to disable or pause some features, and Meta would also lose the ability to use data from WhatsApp to deliver personalized ads on Facebook and Instagram.
Not only that but the company particularly stresses the impact of the CCI’s directive on Indian fashion businesses. Meta argues that such businesses will not be able to run personalized Facebook or Instagram ads based on their interaction with a WhatsApp user regarding specific products. The major concern of Meta is that the CCI’s order will hurt its main revenue source – which is the advertising business – and impact its (especially WhatsApp) ability to remain commercially sustainable.
Meanwhile, the appeals tribunal has granted temporary relief to the company by staying the ban order for now. While the exact reason behind the NCLT’s decision is not clear, the tribunal says that this ban “may lead to a collapse” of WhatsApp’s business model in India.
Interestingly, all this is happening at a time when, at the start of the year, WhatsApp got major relief from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) as the regulator removed the user number limit for payment apps. Earlier imposed in 2022, this restriction limited Meta to onboarding a maximum of 100 million users for WhatsApp Pay. But NPCI’s decision allows WhatsApp Pay to onboard as many users as needed, thus enabling it to play a major role in India’s high volume digital payments game. WhatsApp though, hasn’t really become a significant player in the field which is dominated by Google and Walmart-owned Flipkart.
These legal disputes are significant for Meta. WhatsApp has over 500 million active users across India. In fact, Meta’s Facebook reached over a 350 million user base in the country. In terms of revenue, Meta India’s gross advertising revenue for FY24 stood at ₹22,730 crore, reflecting a 24% growth compared to the previous year. Additionally, net profit surged by 43%, reaching ₹504.93 crore.
