Competition Commission of India orders probe into new privacy policy of WhatsApp

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Wednesday ordered a probe into the new privacy policy of WhatsApp. In a Suo-Motu order on the Updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for WhatsApp Users the Anti-trust Watchdog said that WhatsApp has prima facie contravened the Competition Act, 2000.

The order says that WhatsApp through its exploitative and exclusionary conduct, in the garb of policy update violated the provisions of Section 4 of the act. A thorough and detailed investigation is required to ascertain the full extent, scope and impact of data sharing through involuntary consent of users, the regulator said.

It added that the conduct of WhatsApp in sharing of users' personalised data with other Facebook Companies, in a manner that is neither fully transparent nor based on voluntary and specific user consent, appears prima facie unfair to users.

In January 2021, WhatsApp said that it was updating its privacy policy to allow it to share some user data with parent Facebook and other companies in the group. This prompted a global backlash, including India, against the messaging App. India is the biggest market with more than 500 million users for the company

The antitrust order also comes as WhatsApp sets out to expand its digital payment services to millions of Indians. The 21-page order also asked its investigation unit to conduct the probe and submit a report within 60 days. Such probes typically take several months.