Follow Us
The Delhi High Court has dismissed Facebook India’s plea challenging a probe initiated by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against it in connection with WhatsApp’s new privacy policy announced in 2021.
According to media reports, the court dismissed the petition remarking that there has to be some end for the “luxury to litigate”. “Once the appeals have been dismissed, how another writ petition could be filed,” the bench reportedly questioned while dismissing the plea.
The judge also said that in the case of WhatsApp and Facebook, the probe is suo moto, but in the petitioner's case, a complaint or information was received. The counsel appearing for the petitioner said that it is an Indian subsidiary and it does not have any involvement or connection with Meta on the existing platform.
Facebook India, the Indian subsidiary of US-based Facebook Inc (now known as Meta Platforms), argued that the CCI has clubbed it in its ongoing investigation against Facebook Inc and WhatsApp even though it has not formed any prima facie opinion against it.
The court said, "Ultimately if they found that there is a prima facie case against the Principal (Meta), which warrants investigation and you (Facebook India Online) does not adopt something different, and for the purposes of the investigation if the DG were not to follow Facebook Inc and call upon you for investigation, it could have done so."