India, Nov. 4 -- Putting an end to an almost year-long legal face off between tech giant Meta and India's competition watchdog Competition Commission of India's (CCI), the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has set aside a critical section of the CCI order from 2024 while retaining the monetary penalty imposed on Meta.

The NCLAT has overturned the five-year ban on WhatsApp sharing user data with Meta Platforms for advertising purposes. The appellate tribunal upheld the INR 213.14 Cr penalty (about $25.6 Mn) imposed on Meta.

In its judgement, the NCLAT said that CCI's directions to Meta to cease and desist WhatsApp from sharing user data collected on its platform within its ecosystem of companies for advertising was not sust...