An Indian tribunal temporarily suspended a five-year data sharing ban between WhatsApp and owner Meta Platforms , a major relief for the U.S. giant which had warned its advertising business will be affected.

An Indian tribunal on Thursday suspended restrictions that would have barred WhatsApp from sharing user data with its parent company Meta, delivering a An Indian tribunal has suspended restrictions that would have barred WhatsApp from sharing user data with Meta.

Meta Platforms, the parent company of WhatsApp, has secured interim relief from India’s National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), which stayed the five-year ban imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on WhatsApp’s data-sharing practices.

WhatsApp has been granted interim relief, allowing data sharing with Meta for ads only. Other directives, including a 50% penalty payment and enhanced transparency on data sharing, remain enforced.

India’s NCLAT stays CCI’s directive to ban WhatsApp data sharing with Meta for 5 years, marking a major win for Meta in its largest market.

Meta had challenged the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) directive issued in November 2024, which imposed a ban on data sharing between WhatsApp and other Meta entities for advertising purposes,

An Indian appeals tribunal on Thursday put on hold the antitrust authority's five-year data sharing ban between WhatsApp and owner Meta Platforms' other applications such as Facebook and Instagram for advertising purposes.