Archive · 25 Nov 2025
NCLAT Allows WhatsApp, Meta to Redact Data
WhatsApp and Meta asked a court to remove some secret business information from a judgment.
The court said yes and removed the parts marked in blue.
The judgment was about a fine of ₹213 crore because WhatsApp and Meta were found to be unfairly sharing user data.
The court agreed that WhatsApp's 2021 privacy policy forced users to accept new data-sharing rules without a real choice.
The fine was for abusing their powerful position in the market.
The court also said that WhatsApp and Meta are controlled by the same people, so they were punished together.
NCLAT allowed WhatsApp and Meta to redact confidential commercial information from its 4 November judgment.
The judgment upheld the CCI's ₹213 crore penalty for abuse of dominance by WhatsApp and Meta.
Specific portions marked in blue in the parties' submissions were ordered to be removed from the publicly available version and certified copies.
WhatsApp requested redaction of pages 194-196, and Meta requested redaction of specific segments on pages 200-202.
The CCI had no objection to the redaction requests.
- Who
- WhatsApp, Meta, National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), Competition Commission of India (CCI)
- What
- Redaction of confidential data from a judgment upholding a ₹213 crore penalty for abuse of dominance
- When
- Tuesday, 2025 (decision); 4 November 2025 (original judgment)
- Where
- India
- Why
- To remove confidential commercial information from the publicly available version of the judgment
- Date of Decision
- Tuesday, 2025
- Penalty Amount
- ₹213 crore
- Pages Redacted for WhatsApp
- 194-196
- Pages Redacted for Meta
- 200-202 (specific segments)
- Judgment Date
- 4 November 2025
- Violation Section
- Section 4(2)(a)(i) of the Competition Act