WhatsApp, Facebook petition against CCI probe order in Delhi High Court

In a big development, popular social media platforms WhatsApp and Facebook have submitted a petition in the Delhi High Court against the Competition Commission Of India(CCI) order which called for an investigation into WhatsApp’s privacy policy update. This comes after the competition watchdog had said that the probe needs to be completed in 60 days.

Both Facebook and WhatsApp filed the petitions separately but it was almost the same and they contend that cases on WhatsApp’s privacy policy update are already being heard in the Supreme Court and therefore, CCI should be restricted from any probe until those cases are resolved. 

Facebook defended itself by saying that WhatsApp is a separate entity and that’s why the former should not be dragged into this controversy. It also asserted that the competition watchdog should present evidence of WhatsApp’s dominance before being allowed to investigate.

“Today’s consumers value non-price parameters of services viz. quality, customer service, innovation, etc. as equally if not more important as the price. The competitors in the market also compete on the basis of such non-price parameters. Reduction in consumer data protection and loss of control over their personalised data by the users can be taken as reduction in quality under the antitrust law,” said the CCI order in late March.

WhatsApp has been in controversy for its privacy policies and the new policy doesn’t do much on users’ personal chats and they continue to say that it is end-to-end encrypted.

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