New Delhi, Jan 23 (EFE).\u2013 An Indian appellate court has temporarily lifted a five-year ban that prevented WhatsApp from sharing user data with its parent company, Meta, and affiliated applications.<\/p>
The ban was originally imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for alleged antitrust violations, media reports said.<\/p>
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) issued the stay, granting interim relief to Meta as it challenges the CCI’s November ruling.<\/p>
Lawyers for WhatsApp and Meta argued that the ban jeopardizes the sustainability of the messaging platform\u2019s business model.<\/p>
Since a 2021 privacy policy update, WhatsApp users must accept data sharing with Meta to access the service.<\/p>
\u201cThe five-year ban may lead to a collapse” of WhatsApp’s business model, the tribunal said, according to the Indian legal news outlet Bar & Bench.<\/p>
The CCI contends that WhatsApp\u2019s “take it or leave it” policy unfairly exploits its dominant position in India\u2019s mobile messaging and online advertising markets.<\/p>
The antitrust body argued that the policy imposed undue restrictions on user choice, violating Indian competition law.<\/p>
Beyond the data-sharing prohibition, the CCI had fined Meta over 213 million rupees (approximately $2.5 million) for abusing its dominance in the online advertising sector.<\/p>
In a related case last April, WhatsApp had threatened to cease operations in India if compelled by judicial authorities to weaken its end-to-end encryption system to comply with government demands for user identification. EFE <\/p>
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