If data is the new gold, Meta is seeking to acquire the proverbial philosopher’s stone. In a hearing at the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, Meta has claimed that user data collated by the company from WhatsApp is its “private property”. The Competition Commission of India imposed a fine of Rs 213.14 crore and a five-year ban on WhatsApp’s data-sharing practices within Meta for advertising purposes, stating that this violates the Competition Act, 2002, which prohibits the abuse of a dominant position in a relevant market. Meta owns messaging and social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Threads, with over one billion users in India alone. It has access to the personal data of all these users which it uses to train its Artificial Intelligence programmes and send targeted advertisements and campaigns, both of which it profits from financially. A 2021 update to its privacy policy allowed Meta to share user data from WhatsApp, including phone numbers and, potentially, payment credentials, within the company. This is what the CCI challenged. The NCLAT has now stayed the ban and asked Meta to deposit 50% of the fine, which will be refunded if the tech giant wins the case.
To be clear, the CCI is concerned with Meta’s market dominance and not the privacy of users’ data. Yet, it cannot be denied that the kind of data that Meta is claiming ownership over would compromise users’ privacy. Because India’s new Digital Personal Data Protection Rules are yet to be implemented, pinning down a business for misuse of users’ personal data can be difficult. European countries with stringent regulatory measures have taken action against similar violations. In 2021, Germany’s data protection commissioner temporarily banned Facebook from processing German users’ WhatsApp data. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, too, imposed a fine on WhatsApp for a previous privacy policy update. All major technology companies are engaged in similar malpractices. Data’s centrality to the digital economy is leading to competitive, unethical data hoarding among corporations. It would be reductive to view data mining from the point of view of revenue only; tipping the balance of power is the goal. Whoever controls data controls the ability to influence culture, economies, and even politics. The formulation of an unambiguous framework of data privacy and its percolation among the people are imperatives for India.