Indian court rejects Meta, allows WhatsApp antitrust probe to resume
Kira-Yan


An Indian court is resuming an antitrust probe into WhatsApp (NASDAQ:META) after dismissing an appeal from the company.
WhatsApp and Meta (META; then Facebook) had challenged a bench order from a judge that refused to stay an order from the Competition Commission of India for a new investigation into the entities' privacy policies.

The Delhi High Court Thursday dismissed those appeals as "devoid of any merit."
A probe ordered into WhatsApp's 2021 privacy policy update brought a challenge from Meta, citing timing issues on the policy as well as the claim that the two platforms are separate entities.
The CCI had argued its investigation should be allowed to proceed, since the policy hadn't been withdrawn, and that its probe concerned WhatsApp's anticompetitive sharing of user data with Facebook rather than issues in compliance with a privacy law.