CCI fined Meta ₹213 crore for WhatsApp's take-it-or-leave-it privacy policy

In January 2021, WhatsApp pushed a privacy-policy update requiring users to accept expanded data collection and sharing with Meta group companies, with no opt-out — a take-it-or-leave-it choice. To keep using the app in India, its largest market, users had to accept the new terms (IFF).

The Competition Commission of India found that Meta, through WhatsApp, abused its dominance in messaging by imposing unfair conditions that undermined user autonomy, in violation of Section 4(2)(a)(i) of the Competition Act. In an order dated 18 November 2024 it imposed a monetary penalty of ₹213.14 crore on Meta and directed it to stop the practices (CCI; IFF).

Meta and WhatsApp appealed to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal. On 4 November 2025, NCLAT upheld the ₹213.14 crore penalty and accepted the CCI's jurisdiction over anti-competitive data collection and sharing, but set aside the direction that barred WhatsApp from sharing user data with Meta companies for advertising (Bar and Bench; IFF).

The rest of the order stands: data sharing beyond WhatsApp's core services cannot be a precondition for using the app in India, and all users — including those who already accepted the 2021 policy — must get clear information, a prominent opt-out mechanism and a way to review their preferences (IFF).

₹213.14 crore (~$25.25 million) penalty, upheld by NCLAT in November 2025; the five-year ban on sharing WhatsApp data with Meta for advertising was set aside (IFF).

The 2021 update gave users no meaningful choice — accept expanded data collection and sharing within the Meta group or stop using WhatsApp — which CCI said undermined user autonomy (IFF).

CCI ruled that Meta, through WhatsApp, was dominant in messaging and imposed unfair conditions, an abuse of that position under Section 4(2)(a)(i) of the Competition Act (IFF).

The abuse lay in the design of the policy itself, which is why the penalty survived even after NCLAT allowed advertising data-sharing to resume (IFF; Bar and Bench).

A take-it-or-leave-it terms update becomes an antitrust abuse when you are the default app. Meta's fine survived appeal because the no-choice design of the policy was itself the offence.

Meta and WhatsApp filed appeals; on 4 November 2025, NCLAT set aside paragraph 247.1 of the CCI order — the five-year bar on sharing WhatsApp user data with Meta for advertising — while upholding the rest, including the ₹213.14 crore penalty. For purposes beyond core services, data sharing still cannot be a precondition for using WhatsApp in India, and an opt-out must be available. The case marks how Indian competition law treats consent design in digital markets: the coercion baked into the terms, not the data use itself, was the offence (Bar and Bench; IFF).