New Delhi, Jan. 28 -- On 23 January, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) partially stayed an order of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposing a penalty of Rs.213.14 crore on WhatsApp and its parent company Meta for coercing its users to accept the WhatsApp Privacy Policy of 2021.

Compared to its earlier policy of 2016, the 2021 policy expanded the scope of the user data that was being collected and shared with other Meta group companies such as Facebook and Instagram.

The CCI noted that personal data of WhatsApp's users was being commercialized by Meta for purposes unrelated to the primary function of WhatsApp.

Unlike its 2016 policy, WhatsApp's 2021 update did not give its users an option to deny such commer...