Competition Commission of India rejects antitrust complaint against WhatsApp

The Competition Commission has dismissed a complaint of alleged unfair business practices by popular messaging platform WhatsApp with respect to digital payments market in the country.

It was alleged that Facebook-owned WhatsApp has abused its dominance in the ‘market for internet-based messaging application through smartphones’ to manipulate another market — ‘market for UPI enabled digital payment applications’ in its favour.

To assess the complaint, the watchdog considered two relevant markets — ‘market for Over-The-Top (OTT) messaging apps through smartphones in India’ and ‘market for UPI (Unified Payment Interface) enabled Digital Payments Apps in India’.

According to the regulator, the informant has contended that WhatsApp will leverage its dominance in the upstream market to have a competitive edge over existing competitors.