After the Competition Commission imposed a Rs 213-crore penalty on Meta in relation to WhatsApp privacy policy, the company said it disagrees with the watchdog’s decision and plans to appeal. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Monday asked WhatsApp to refrain from sharing user data with other applications, owned by Meta, for advertising purposes for a period of five years.

India’s competition watchdog imposed a penalty of Rs 213.14 crore on the social media giant for unfair business ways with respect to WhatsApp privacy policy update done in 2021.

Besides, the competition watchdog has directed Meta to cease and desist from anti-competitive practices.

Meta and WhatsApp have also been asked to implement certain behavioural remedies within a defined timeline to address the anti-competition issues, according to a CCI order.

A Meta spokesperson said that the company disagrees with the CCI’s decision and plans to appeal.

“As a reminder, the 2021 update did not change the privacy of people’s personal messages and was offered as a choice for users at the time. We also ensured no one would have their accounts deleted or lose functionality of the WhatsApp service because of this update,” the Meta spokesperson said.

Meta further said the update was about introducing optional business features on WhatsApp, and provided further transparency about data collection and usage.

The Meta spokesperson added since that time, WhatsApp has been incredibly valuable to people and businesses, enabling organisations and government institutions to deliver citizen services through COVID and beyond, and as well as supporting small businesses in furtherance of the India economy.

“WhatsApp is able to do all of this because it offers services supported by Meta. We are committed to finding a path forward that allows us to continue providing the experiences that people and businesses have come to expect from us,” the Meta spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, CCI has barred WhatsApp from sharing data collected on its platform with other Meta companies or Meta company products for advertising purposes for five years.

On sharing of WhatsApp user data for purposes other than advertising, the regulator said WhatsApp’s policy should include a detailed explanation of the user data shared with other Meta companies or Meta company products.

“This explanation should specify the purpose of data sharing, linking each type of data to its corresponding purpose,” it said.

The watchdog also said that sharing of user data collected on WhatsApp with other Meta companies or Meta company products for purposes other than for providing WhatsApp services shall not be made a condition for users to access WhatsApp Service in India.

On sharing of WhatsApp user data for purposes other than for providing WhatsApp services, CCI said all users in India (including users who have accepted 2021 update) will be provided with the choice to manage such data sharing by way of an opt-out option prominently through an in-app notification.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Adobe and Microsoft joined hands to announce a suite of new artificial intelligence (AI) features for marketers at the Adobe Summit on Tuesday. In this collaboration, Adobe will offer its Adobe Experience Cloud workflows and insights to Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 applications. The new capabilities are aimed at reducing data silos and the inconvenience of using multiple different applications to complete complex tasks and build strategies. The collaboration was announced shortly after Adobe unveiled the addition of new AI capabilities and an AI assistant in its Experience Cloud suite of products.

In a press release, the companies noted the complexities in the marketing discipline that have given rise to specialised tools and applications for specific tasks. Highlighting the problem of data silos and back-and-forth navigation between apps that can lead to productivity loss and slowing of impact speed, Adobe and Microsoft announced the collaboration to tackle these challenges with the help of a unified interface and AI.

“Microsoft and Adobe share a common goal of empowering marketers to focus on the work that’s most important – creating impactful campaigns and enhancing customer experiences,” said Jared Spataro, corporate vice president, AI at Work, Microsoft. “By integrating contextual marketing insights from Adobe Experience Cloud applications and Dynamics 365 within the flow of work through Copilot for Microsoft 365, we deliver on our shared goal while helping marketers streamline their efforts, break down barriers, and deliver exceptional results.”

Through the partnership, Adobe will lend relevant marketing insights and workflows from Adobe Experience Cloud applications to Microsoft, which will integrate it into its Copilot for Microsoft 365. As a result, users who use both Adobe products and Microsoft apps such as Outlook, Word, or PowerPoint, can now easily share the data across platforms to create and build marketing campaigns and strategies.

As per the announcement, one of the capabilities Copilot will gain after this tie-up includes getting data from Adobe tools such as Customer Journey Analytics and Adobe Workfront to Microsoft apps such as Outlook, Teams, and Word. Users can ask Copilot questions regarding the status of the marketing project, outstanding approvals, actionable insights, and more.

Users will also be able to draw insights from both platforms to create briefs, presentations, reports, and even imagery using Adobe Firefly generative AI. Adobe Workfront will also compile notifications from multiple applications, emails, and chats to inform the user about the project status. This collaboration has not been released yet and as per the press release, users can sign up on the platform to receive updates.

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