Bengaluru, Aug. 13 -- Social media platform WhatsApp told the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Tuesday that sharing basic account details and generic user preferences with Meta cannot be regarded as a violation of users' right to privacy. Senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for WhatsApp, told NCLAT that the only information WhatsApp which too is owned by Meta, shares with the latter, is "generic, non-content data" inferred from "user interactions" with businesses on the platform, such as an "interest in luxury cars, frequent restaurant engagement, or regular travel." Rohatgi argued that WhatsApp merely tells Meta how many times a user goes to a restaurant but not what they eat. It tells Meta how many times a counsel argues before the Tribunal, but not the content of their actual arguments, he added. This user metadata does not include the actual content of messages and therefore cannot amount to a breach of privacy, the senior counsel argued. "Personal preferences such as who your friends are, where you go, what exactly you eat, constitute privacy. If I (WhatsApp) am only telling (Meta) that those in the age group of 50 to 70 prefer to buy a Mercedes car, that does not constitute any breach of privacy. That is not an offence," Rohatgi said. NCLAT was hearing the appeals filed by WhatsApp and Meta challenging a 2024 order of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) that imposed Rs.213.14 crore penalty on Meta for abuse of dominance. The dispute arises from a January 2021 notification issued by WhatsApp informing users about its revised terms of service and privacy policies. The new policy stated that effective February 8 the same year, users were required to accept all terms, including an expanded scope of data collection as well as mandatory data sharing with Meta companies, to continue using WhatsApp. The Tribunal will continue hearing the arguments on Wednesday....