'Luxury to litigate' has to end: Delhi High Court dismisses Facebook India plea against CCI probe order

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition by Facebook India challenging an order of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) calling for a probe against it in relation to WhatsApp's privacy policy of 2021..Justice Yashwant Varma passed the order after noting that a plea by the petitioner’s parent company challenging the CCI probe has already been dismissed by a Division Bench, and therefore, there has to be an end to the ‘luxury to litigate’..Facebook India is the Indian subsidiary of the US-based social networking giant Facebook Inc (now known as Meta). It had approached the Court arguing that the CCI has clubbed it in its ongoing investigation against Facebook Inc and WhatsApp, even though it has not formed any prima facie opinion against it..Appearing for Facebook India, Senior Advocate Parag Tripathi argued that it has been made an opposite party based on the complaint of Internet Freedom Foundation.Tripathi referred to the Division Bench’s order in its parent company’s plea and said that the Court has rejected its impleadment application while granting liberty to challenge the CCI order.“There has to be a prima facie case which directs DG to cause an investigation. I am only aggrieved by the clubbing order. Allegations made are exactly the same…I am a subsidiary but not involved in any policy making,” he said..However, Justice Varma remarked,“With all due respect, you suddenly wake up now and challenge the order. Enough is enough. There has to be some end to luxury to litigate."The plea was therefore dismissed. .On August 26, the High Court had dismissed appeals by WhatsApp and its parent company Facebook challenging a single-judge’s order which refused to stay a probe ordered by the CCI into its privacy policy in March 2021.While doing so, it had noted that the policy creates a “take-it-or-leave-it” situation, virtually forcing its users into agreement by providing a mirage of choice, and then sharing their sensitive data with Facebook.The judges had rejected Facebook’s argument that it is a separate and distinct legal entity from WhatsApp, and therefore, it should not be subjected to an intensive and intrusive investigation..WhatsApp privacy policy forces users into agreement, shares sensitive data with Facebook: Delhi High Court