CCI probe: Delhi HC reserves judgement on Facebook's petition

The Delhi High Court on Monday reserved its judgement in an appeal filed by Whatapp and Facebook challenging the single judge-bench's order which had refused to stay the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) last year's order.

In 2021, the court had refused to stay a notice issued by the CCI, asking WhatsApp to furnish certain information in connection with the probe, ordered in March, on the instant messaging app's new updated privacy policy.

In the last hearing on July 22, Meta (formerly Facebook) had opposed the CCI probe into the latest WhatsApp privacy policy telling the high court that the CCI cannot investigate into the matter only because it owns the instant messaging platform.

During the course of the hearing, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing on behalf of Meta, said that the two platforms are different entities, submitting that Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014.

Arguing that there is no material with respect to Facebook in the matter, Rohatgi said it was 'suo moto jurisdiction' and there is no material to commence an investigation.