NCLAT permits Meta, WhatsApp to remove confidential details from CCI ruling

New Delhi: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in Delhi has allowed Meta Platforms and WhatsApp LLC to redact confidential commercial information from its November 4, judgment that upheld the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) Rs 213 crore penalty for abuse of dominance in the OTT messaging market, according to LiveLaw.

A bench comprising Chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan and Technical Member Arun Baroka directed that the portions identified as confidential and highlighted in blue in the parties’ submissions be removed from the publicly accessible version of the judgment and from certified copies. The bench also said no inspection of the redacted parts would be permitted.

WhatsApp’s counsel requested the removal of confidential material on pages 194 to 196 of the judgment. After noting that the CCI had no objection to the request, the bench ordered that the identified material be deleted from the version uploaded on the tribunal’s website and omitted from all certified copies.

Meta sought redaction of confidential content on pages 200 to 202, specifying that only the blue-marked sections within selected paragraphs required removal. With the CCI again raising no objection, the bench directed that only the designated portions be redacted from the judgment, the certified copies and inspection.

The November 4, judgment upheld the CCI’s findings that WhatsApp and Meta abused their dominant position in India’s OTT messaging market by imposing unfair data-sharing terms and requiring users to accept the 2021 privacy policy, which allowed broader transfer of WhatsApp user data to Meta platforms.

The tribunal held that the intersection of privacy and competition issues does not restrict the CCI’s jurisdiction to examine anti-competitive conduct. It observed that privacy constitutes a non-price factor and that excessive data collection can amount to a reduction in service quality.

However, the NCLAT set aside the CCI’s five-year prohibition on sharing WhatsApp user data for advertising purposes, holding that the restriction lacked sufficient justification. It also overturned the finding of leveraging under Section 4(2)(e), on the basis that Meta and WhatsApp are separate legal entities.

While the appeals were partly allowed, the Rs 213 crore penalty and the CCI’s findings on unfair conditions and restriction of market access under Sections 4(2)(a)(i) and 4(2)(c) remain in place.