On August 25, 2022, the Delhi High Court
(‘DHC') dismissed appeals raised by
Whatsapp LLC (‘Whatsapp') and Facebook
Inc. (‘Facebook') (collectively,
‘Appellants') challenging the
jurisdiction of the CCI to direct investigation into the 2021 Terms
of Service and Privacy Policy of the Whatsapp on the ground that it
violates the provisions of the Competition Act.1
By way of background, Whatsapp was originally governed by its
own Terms and Privacy Policy of 2012. However, after Facebook
acquired Whatsapp in 2014, the policy was updated in 2016
(‘2016 Policy'). The 2016 Policy
informed Whatsapp users about: (i) the acquisition; (ii) how
Facebook would now use Whatsapp's information for its
advertisement and products giving a one-time opportunity to
Whatsapp users to opt out of Facebook using their information that
was shared over Whatsapp. However, users who joined Whatsapp after
the 2016 Policy, were not offered this option. The 2016
Policy was challenged in the case