India’s competition watchdog has ordered WhatsApp to stop sharing user data with other Meta units for advertising purposes for five years and also levied a fine of $25.4 million for antitrust violations related to WhatsApp’s controversial 2021 privacy policy.

Shouldn't have abused messaging dominance, Zuck India's Competition Commission has slapped Meta with a five-year ban on using info collected from WhatsApp to help with advertising on its other platforms.

Tech giants, including Apple and Meta, face new regulatory challenges with India’s proposed EU-like antitrust law. Read more at straitstimes.com.

India's competition watchdog directed WhatsApp to refrain from sharing user data for advertising purposes with other applications owned by Meta for a period of five years and fined the U.S. tech giant $25.

Meta has been penalised Rs 213.14 crore by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), citing abuse of its market dominance through WhatsApp's controversial 2021 privacy policy. The policy, which mandated extensive data sharing between WhatsApp and other Meta entities, drew regulatory ire for its restrictive nature.

CCI bans WhatsApp from sharing data with Meta for 5 years, fines Rs 213.14 crore for antitrust violations in India.

The watchdog concluded that the 2021 policy update by WhatsApp on a "take-it-or-leave-it" basis constitutes an imposition of unfair conditions.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed a fine worth approximately ₹213.1 crore ($25.4 million) on WhatsApp over antitrust breaches related to the privacy policy case running since 2021.