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Meta Warns India Antitrust Ruling Could Force Rollback of Features, Harm Business

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Meta has expressed concerns that a recent antitrust ruling by India’s Competition Commission (CCI) could compel the company to “roll back or pause” some of its features, potentially damaging its business in the country. This warning comes in response to a CCI directive that prohibits Meta’s WhatsApp messaging service from sharing user data with the parent company for advertising purposes.

The Antitrust Ruling and Its Implications

The CCI’s November directive found that Meta had abused its dominant position in India and coerced WhatsApp users into accepting a 2021 privacy policy change that allegedly expanded the company’s data collection and sharing practices. As a result, Meta was slapped with a $24.5 million fine and a five-year ban on sharing data between WhatsApp and Meta in India, where Meta has over 350 million Facebook users and more than 500 million WhatsApp users.

Meta has publicly defended its policy change, expressing disagreement with the CCI’s order. However, in its appeal, Meta highlighted the potential consequences of the ruling, which it claims would significantly impact its ability to deliver personalized ads on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. According to Meta’s filing, the ban on WhatsApp-to-Meta data sharing could prevent businesses, such as an Indian fashion company, from personalizing ads based on user interactions with WhatsApp. Meta has warned that this could force the company to “roll back or pause several features and products,” threatening the commercial viability of both WhatsApp and Meta in India.

Meta’s Concerns Over the Business Impact

Meta’s filing with the Indian appeals tribunal provides an in-depth look at the potential impacts of the CCI ruling. The company argues that the data-sharing ban would disrupt its ability to offer personalized advertisements and potentially hinder the company’s long-term revenue generation in India. While Meta has not specified the exact financial consequences, the company expressed concerns about the broader implications for its business operations in one of its largest markets.

Facebook India Online Services, Meta’s registered entity in the country responsible for selling advertising inventory, reported revenue of $351 million in 2023-24, marking its highest revenue in at least five years.

Global Challenges for Meta

This issue in India adds to Meta’s ongoing regulatory challenges worldwide. In 2021, WhatsApp was accused of violating EU laws by failing to adequately explain changes to its privacy policy. Although Meta later agreed to clarify these changes, the global scrutiny continues to affect the company.

The Indian antitrust investigation began in 2021, sparked by criticism over WhatsApp’s privacy policy changes. Meta argued that the changes were designed to provide clarity on optional business messaging features and did not expand data collection or sharing practices, but the CCI disagreed. The ruling mandates that WhatsApp allow users to decide whether or not they want to share their data with Meta, a significant shift from the previous policy that offered no opt-out option.

Meta’s Appeal Against the CCI’s Ruling

In its appeal, Meta has also criticized the CCI’s approach, stating that the regulator should have consulted with the company and WhatsApp before issuing directives to change its business practices. Meta argued that the CCI lacks the technical expertise necessary to fully understand the potential consequences of its decisions, especially as they pertain to the functioning of digital platforms.

Meta’s appeal will be heard by the Indian tribunal on Thursday, though the process could take weeks or months to resolve. In the meantime, the tribunal has the option to put the CCI directive on hold, potentially providing Meta some breathing room.

 

Instagram Outage Reports Drop Significantly in the U.S., Downdetector Shows

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Instagram’s outage incidents in the U.S. saw a sharp decline on Wednesday morning, according to Downdetector.com, signaling that the issue affecting many users had largely been resolved. By 9:32 a.m. ET, only 619 outage reports were logged, down from a peak of 11,255 earlier in the day. Downdetector tracks service disruptions by gathering status reports from various sources, though the actual number of affected users may differ.

Meta, the parent company of Instagram, did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the outage. The platform’s services, including Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, have experienced disruptions on multiple occasions in the past year, with a major global outage in March.

 

Meta Allegedly Preparing to Integrate ‘Hundreds of Thousands’ of AI Users into Facebook and Instagram

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Meta is reportedly preparing to introduce a significant change to its social media platforms by adding artificial intelligence (AI) bots that will behave like regular user accounts. According to recent reports, the tech company aims to deploy AI-powered characters that can perform actions typically carried out by human users, such as posting, liking, sharing, and interacting with content. These AI bots are expected to be integrated into both Facebook and Instagram, further expanding the role of AI in social media.

The plan follows Meta’s earlier efforts to introduce AI features, with the company already allowing users to create AI characters since last July. However, this feature has been limited to the United States, and the AI characters created by users cannot be made public. The move to introduce AI-powered accounts as part of a broader vision is seen as a significant step toward fully integrating AI into the social media experience, something Meta has been working toward for some time.

Meta has already taken initial steps to weave AI into its platforms in various ways. The company has rolled out the Meta AI chatbot, integrated AI writing tools for Instagram DMs, and introduced AI avatars for influencers and content creators. The next major development, according to Connor Hayes, Meta’s Vice President of Product for Generative AI, is the launch of AI-powered user accounts. He explained that these accounts will be designed to function similarly to human profiles, with bios, profile pictures, and the ability to generate and share content across the platforms.

The vision behind these AI accounts is to make them an organic part of the social media experience, blending seamlessly with real user accounts. As AI technology continues to evolve, Meta’s integration of AI characters could redefine user engagement on Facebook and Instagram, offering new possibilities for content creation and interaction. While details about the rollout are still emerging, the move represents Meta’s commitment to enhancing its platforms with cutting-edge AI features.