Meta moves Delhi High Court against CCPA fine for listing walkie-talkies on Facebook Marketplace

Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, has approached the Delhi High Court challenging an order issued by the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), which held that Facebook Marketplace violated several laws by listing walkie-talkies on the platform..The January 1 order of the CCPA imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on Facebook and directed the platform to enforce strict compliance rules on listings of specific products, including walkie-talkies, drones, GPS devices, and other regulated items. The CCPA also directed the platform to ensure that no product needing statutory approval or certification is listed, hosted, advertised or sold without full legal compliance and mandatory disclosures. In addition, Facebook must carry out periodic self-audits to detect and prevent violations and publish certificates of these audits publicly, the CCPA order said.Meta then approached the High Court against the same. .Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav heard the matter on Tuesday..Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Arvind Datar appeared for Meta and highlighted a key distinction between Facebook Marketplace and platforms like Amazon or Flipkart.“They [Amazon and Flipkart] are like virtual Khan Markets. They are e-commerce entities. We [Facebook] are not virtual Khan Markets. We are saying, we are a notice board. This is meant only for Facebook users… There is no commercial sale, we don’t charge anybody. Nobody is paying us anything,” Rohatgi told the Court..The Court asked the senior counsel about why Meta cannot approach the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) against the order.“It’s a question of wrongful exercise of jurisdiction,” said the Court..However, Rohatgi said that it was not the case of wrongful exercise of jurisdiction but total lack of jurisdiction. “I am saying there is total absence of jurisdiction,” said Rohatgi. The Court ultimately allowed Meta to present short notes and arguments on March 25 to satisfy how the CCPA order can be termed “completely without jurisdiction.”.In its petition, Meta has contended that the CCPA order imposes obligations on individual users and commercial entities alike, creating operational burdens that are “impracticable and onerous.”“If the Impugned Order is allowed to continue, individual users... would be compelled to comply with obligations designed for commercial sellers... These users would be faced with compliance requirements that are impracticable and onerous and would inevitably result in their exclusion from the platform, undermining the very purpose and utility of the Marketplace,” argued the plea..The petition further cautioned that the order’s broad scope and its misclassification of the company as an e-commerce entity could have lasting consequences, potentially influencing future regulatory action and harming its reputation and business operations in India with no adequate remedy..The petition also highlighted the steps Meta has already taken, including removing non-compliant walkie-talkie listings, providing user data to authorities and implementing automated enforcement systems. .Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.