CCI Vs WhatsApp: Facebook Says Competition Watchdog Can’t Probe Platform In A ‘Creeping Fashion’

For the second consecutive day on Friday (July 22), lawyers of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) as well as Facebook and WhatsApp sparred before the Delhi High Court (HC) in a case related to the messaging platform’s 2021 privacy policy update.

Facebook lawyers reportedly told a bench comprising Justices Satish Chandra Sharma and Subramonium Prasad that that the CCI did not even have prima facie material to begin probe into the case, adding that CCI could not investigate the platform in a ‘creeping fashion.’ 

The Court has listed the matter for next hearing on July 25 and will hear the submission of the CCI’s lawyers on July 28.

Arguing for Facebook Inc, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi noted that being the parent company of WhatsApp did not make Facebook a necessary part to the probe.

“The fact that WhatsApp can share items with certain people does not mean they could all be the necessary parties. These policies are not my policies. Whether it breaches the right to privacy is to be seen but merely because they share it with X, Y or Z is not a ground to investigate me,” Rohatgi said. 

Advocate Parag Tripathi, who represented Facebook India, also echoed the same sentiment. He said that the firm had nothing to do with the update and yet was embroiled into the probe by the CCI.

Appearing for WhatsApp, senior lawyer Harish Salve challenged the investigation on the grounds that the CCI had no jurisdiction to probe the matter. 

The verbal tug of war came as the HC was hearing a clutch of appeals filed by WhatsApp and Facebook against a previous order that dismissed their earlier pleas against the investigation launched by the Commission into WhatsApp’s updated privacy policy.

Earlier on July 21, the CCI told the Delhi HC that there was ‘virtually a stay’ on the investigation due to time granted by the Court to both entities for filing replies in the case. The competition watchdog also contented that it was not able to ‘move an inch’ in the investigation launched into WhatsApp’s 2021 updated privacy policy.

The CCI launched a probe into WhatsApp in early 2021 after it emerged that WhatsApp was imposing certain policy updates on its customers. The policy update allowed WhatsApp to leverage ‘business conversations’ users had with business accounts on the app for targeted advertising.

This has formed the basis of the CCI’s case against the social media platform. The CCI previously argued before the Courts that the new update would lead to ‘excessive data collection’ and ‘stalking’ of consumers for advertising.