Keeping up with Competition - December 2024
A monthly newsletter by Axiom5
Welcome to the fifteenth edition of our monthly newsletter, Keeping up with Competition. In this issue, we recap the key events that shaped the Indian competition law and policy landscape in November 2024.
Detailed summaries of orders passed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) can be accessed here.
Merger Control - a snapshot
The CCI approved seven combinations and published eight detailed orders in November 2024 (the summaries of these orders are available here). The CCI received ten new notices, of which one notice was through the Green Channel route.
Behavioural cases
The CCI issued two closure orders, one order directing the DG to initiate an investigation and one order imposing a penalty. In Harish Kumar, the informant alleged that the opposite party (OP) rigged the tendering process for advertising services by changing requirements and granting backdated registrations to favor certain entities. The CCI, after reviewing the bidding information and the submissions of the opposite party, concluded that there was no prima facie case of anticompetitive conduct and closed the matter. In Anurag Gupta, the informants alleged that the OP engaged in unfair business practices by failing to deliver plots in a real estate project despite receiving payments and offering a substitute plot in another delayed project. The CCI closed the case, stating it lacked jurisdiction over the consumer dispute and that the informants could pursue remedies in a more appropriate forum.
In In Re: Updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for WhatsApp users the CCI initiated a suo moto case against Meta's 2021 WhatsApp privacy policy update, which mandated data sharing with Facebook (now Meta), raising concerns about user privacy and anti-competitive behavior. The CCI defined two relevant markets:
The market for OTT messaging apps through smartphones in India, where it found WhatsApp to be dominant due to its large market share, network effects, high switching costs, and Meta's resources; and
The market for online display advertising in India.
The CCI found Meta abused its dominance by imposing a "take-it-or-leave-it" privacy policy, excessively collecting and sharing user data beyond its core messaging service, and leveraging its dominance in the OTT messaging market to gain an unfair advantage in the online display advertising market. Given that, the CCI imposed a penalty of INR 213.14 crore on Meta and ordered it to cease anti-competitive practices, stop sharing user data with other Meta companies for advertising purposes for five years, and provide users with a clear opt-out option for data sharing for non-advertising purposes. A detailed summary of the order is available here.
In Winzo Games, Winzo, a gaming platform operator, alleged that Google abused its dominant position in the app store market by unfairly discriminating against certain Real Money Games (RMGs) on its Play Store. Winzo claimed that Google's policies restricted the listing of all RMGs except for Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) and Rummy, which were allowed under a pilot program. Winzo also argued that Google displayed discriminatory malware warnings for sideloaded RMG apps and payment warnings for in-app purchases, further hindering their market access and innovation. The CCI acknowledged Google's dominance in the relevant markets and conducted a prima facie analysis of Winzo's allegations. While the CCI did not find sufficient grounds for an investigation into the non-listing of RMG apps or sideloading warnings, it expressed concerns regarding the RMG pilot program, Google's ads policy, and payment warnings, finding them potentially discriminatory and anti-competitive. Consequently, the CCI found a prima facie case against Google for potential contravention of Sections 4(2)(a)(i), 4(2)(b), and 4(2)(c) of the Act, ordering a further investigation by the Director General. A detailed summary of the order is available here.