New Delhi: WhatsApp, a subsidiary of Meta Platforms,Friday submitted before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) did not have jurisdiction to decide issues related to data protection.
The competition watchdog last November held that WhatsApp's 2021 privacy policy amounted to coercing its users to share data with Meta, allowing the company to maintain its dominance in the market while harming consumer welfare and market competition.
Senior advocate Arun Kathpalia, representing WhatsApp, said that CCI found the instant messaging app to have compelled, coerced and create a sense of urgency among users to accept its updated privacy policy or else lose access to essential app features.
But "all of these findings are with respect to users without any evidence. They (CCI) don't even make a pretence of calling a consumer to say that this has happened to me. I have accepted this because I felt I would lose access," Kathpalia argued.
He also informed the appellate tribunal that WhatsApp clarified in May 2021 that users' accounts would not be deleted or lose access to essential features if they didn't accept the updated policy.
Questioning the approach of CCI, Kathpalia argued that in the order, it has not been spelt out how WhatsApp's 2021 data policy distorts market competition and that sharing data with group companies was an industry practice, not an abusive practice. He also submitted before NCLAT that the competition watchdog, in its order, states that users can easily switch to different apps as switching cost is low, but contradicts this later by observing that it's difficult to switch to another app.
Further, Kathpalia also said that WhatsApp's 2021 policy didn't offer an opt-out option, similar to the 2016 policy, because opt-out was available to only users who joined the messaging app before it was acquired by Meta in 2014.
"All users who have joined since 2016 agreed to the WhatsApp policy, and also, going by the industry norm, WhatsApp doesn't need to offer opt-out to its users," Kathpalia argued.
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The competition watchdog last November held that WhatsApp's 2021 privacy policy amounted to coercing its users to share data with Meta, allowing the company to maintain its dominance in the market while harming consumer welfare and market competition.
Senior advocate Arun Kathpalia, representing WhatsApp, said that CCI found the instant messaging app to have compelled, coerced and create a sense of urgency among users to accept its updated privacy policy or else lose access to essential app features.
But "all of these findings are with respect to users without any evidence. They (CCI) don't even make a pretence of calling a consumer to say that this has happened to me. I have accepted this because I felt I would lose access," Kathpalia argued.
He also informed the appellate tribunal that WhatsApp clarified in May 2021 that users' accounts would not be deleted or lose access to essential features if they didn't accept the updated policy.
Questioning the approach of CCI, Kathpalia argued that in the order, it has not been spelt out how WhatsApp's 2021 data policy distorts market competition and that sharing data with group companies was an industry practice, not an abusive practice. He also submitted before NCLAT that the competition watchdog, in its order, states that users can easily switch to different apps as switching cost is low, but contradicts this later by observing that it's difficult to switch to another app.
Further, Kathpalia also said that WhatsApp's 2021 policy didn't offer an opt-out option, similar to the 2016 policy, because opt-out was available to only users who joined the messaging app before it was acquired by Meta in 2014.
"All users who have joined since 2016 agreed to the WhatsApp policy, and also, going by the industry norm, WhatsApp doesn't need to offer opt-out to its users," Kathpalia argued.
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