{"id":229198,"date":"2020-05-07T18:00:22","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T12:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?p=229198"},"modified":"2020-07-14T19:32:10","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T14:02:10","slug":"analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysing the Competition Law issues in the ambitious Jio-Facebook deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p2\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"s1\">Facebook is investing $5.7 billion or INR 43,574 crore to get close to 10% equity in Jio Platforms Limited.\u00a0 In its press release<a href=\"#_ftn1\"><strong>[1]<\/strong><\/a>, the social media giant expressed its intention to connect Jio\u2019s e-commerce platform, JioMart, to small businesses and shops via \u201cthe power of WhatsApp\u201d in order to make online shopping a seamless mobile experience. The Jio-Facebook deal announced last week promises to push India\u2019s digital transformation to new heights. However, out of a number of regulatory approvals, Competition Commission of India\u2019s (CCI) approval is the most crucial one. To consummate a deal that crosses the thresholds mentioned under Section 5 of the Competition Act, 2002, CCI\u2019s approval is mandatory. Section 6 sub-section (2) read with Regulation 5 of the Combination Regulations<a href=\"#_ftn2\"><strong>[2]<\/strong><\/a> evidences a suspensory regime i.e. the approval must be obtained prior to closing of the deal in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">The deal, as ambitious as it sounds, can run into anti-trust issues. Firstly, the multi-billion-dollar investment into Jio will have to be notified to and approved by India\u2019s competition regulator. For that to happen, CCI will have to take a forward-looking approach and check that the proposed combination does not have potential to cause appreciable adverse effect on the competition in the market. To safeguard the investment from the protectionist approaches of Indian regulators is a crucial factor in consummating the deal and, subsequently, carrying it forward smoothly. Despite the criticism to protectionist regulatory regime, CCI tends to adopt a liberal approach<a href=\"#_ftn3\"><strong>[3]<\/strong><\/a>. In the approved RIL-Brookfield tower infrastructure deal, the two were found to be vertical participants and CCI went ahead to analyse if there were any vertical overlap. With RIL\u2019s acquisition of stake in Saudi AramCo at hold, it needs to be more careful with the investment and regulatory concerns with the activities of its digital arm, Jio.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"s1\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">The strategic investment for acquiring the minority stake is not simply a passive investment. The filing of notice as per Regulation 4 of the Combination Regulations in itself is indicative of the fact that the transaction is not in the ordinary course of business and is backed with an intent of strategic investment to bring in change in control. Thus, the responsibility of CCI is to peruse not only the potential adverse effects on competition but also the potential concerns it may give rise to.\u00a0It would be interesting to see whether the acquisition of minority stake in India\u2019s leading telecom arm would grant any control to Facebook. Let us look at the possible anti-trust issues that the deal poses:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"s1\" style=\"color: #008000;\"><b>Dominance: Boon or a bane?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"s1\">Both Jio and Facebook seem to be dominant players in their respective markets. The<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Telecom Regulatory Authority of India\u2019s data points to the fact that Jio has the highest market share in terms of user base and revenue sharing in the telecom market as it holds 32% share in the 1.15-billion-user Indian mobile services market, taking its total user base to 369.93 million, surpassing its competitors Bharti Airtel and Vodafone-Idea. It must also be noted that, unlike others, all Jio connections are 4G based, thus, having a strong base of smartphone users.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"s1\">Now, Facebook primarily operates via three platforms: facebook.com, Instagram and WhatsApp. All of them seem to be dominant players in the market they operate in. We are only concerned with WhatsApp. Its relevant market seems to be smartphone-based social media messaging platform. WhatsApp has more than 400 million<a href=\"#_ftn4\"><strong>[4]<\/strong> <\/a>confirmed users in India, while around 600 million<a href=\"#_ftn5\"><strong>[5]<\/strong><\/a> people have access to internet<a href=\"#_ftn6\"><strong>[6]<\/strong><\/a> in the country. Other competitors to WhatsApp in India are hike, WeChat, Telegram, which only have a fraction of the users as WhatsApp.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"s1\">Jio plans to revolutionise JioMart by combining it with WhatsApp to integrate small and medium scale \u2018kirana\u2019 businesses to cater to the demand. This would firstly strengthen the position of mom-pop shops in the local market by sewing them into the digital framework and secondly would attempt to penetrate into another market by using the dominance of WhatsApp.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"s1\">More so, WhatsApp could possibly allow JioMart to operate on its messaging platform. If done so, and in the manner that WhatsApp comes with pre-embedded JioMart platform, it could lead to abuse of dominance under Section 4(2)(d) as installing WhatsApp would be the main contract and pre-embedded JioMart would be the unconnected supplementary obligation. This would also mean that the users would not be allowed to embed any other e-commerce portal on WhatsApp messenger, which would again seem to be causing disruption in the competition in the market and unfair to consumers as it would leave no choice to them but accept the imposed deal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"s1\">Another advantage post the deal would be of control over consumer data. As of now, RIL Chief has said that there is no agreement for transferring of consumer data between the parties; however, this does not erode the possibility of entering into such agreements in the near future. While control over data has been used by Competition Regulators in examining the e-commerce and digital platforms\u2019 anti-competitive conduct (viz. <i>Amazon-Flipkart case<\/i><a href=\"#_ftn7\"><strong>[7]<\/strong><\/a>, <i>Sonam Sharma<\/i> v. <i>Apple Inc. USA<\/i><a href=\"#_ftn8\"><strong>[8]<\/strong><\/a>), this factor in the present case must be dealt with utmost seriousness and conviction to ensure survival of healthy competition in the e-commerce market, especially at a time when Facebook has been imposed with $5 billion fine over data privacy violation<a href=\"#_ftn9\"><strong>[9]<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"s1\" style=\"color: #008000;\"><b>Appreciable Adverse Effect on Competition: Is it too soon?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"s1\">Where the strategic investment is with the intent to enter into a different segment using the control in respective markets to enter into an entirely different product market, the parameters to check the potential adverse effect on the competition must be comprehensive.\u00a0<i>In re, Google LLC<\/i><a href=\"#_ftn10\"><strong>[10]<\/strong><\/a>, CCI observed that there is a need to not only delineate primary relevant market but also associated markets to relevant markets that have been affected by the conduct of the parties involved. Section 20 sub-section (4) lists the factors that CCI must consider to conclude if there is any appreciable adverse effect on the competition because of the proposed combination. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"s1\">The essence of this checklist is to look for horizontal or vertical overlap in the activities post acquisition. While there seems to be no horizontal overlap, there definitely could be a case of vertical integration. Jio provides internet to smartphone, smartphones use internet to operate WhatsApp and now WhatsApp would integrate JioMart. It is not only vertical integration but use of dominant position in one market to enter into a new market, and thus would be likely to effect adversely the natural competition in the \u2018phygital\u2019 commerce market (as has been recently termed).<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"s1\">The analysis must be based not only on the market share of the deal participants both pre and post-acquisition but must also mindfully address the data sharing aspect of the deal, considering these data mammoths\u2019 conduct in the recent past. The US Court imposing record $5 billion fine on Facebook for privacy violations is in itself a warning for the Indian regulators to intervene in this far reaching deal especially, to protect the Indian start-up movement that is also an important wing of the Digital India flight. The deal no doubt has potential of creating business and commercial barriers for local tech start-ups. The primary purpose of the merger control regime is to foresee adverse effects and to live up to this objective, CCI must take cognizance of the interrelatedness of this deal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"s1\">One can at the same not ignore the importance of balance between the commercial interest and the consumer welfare interests. Though the weighing scale can never be equal for both, what is important for CCI as a regulator of omnipotent economic concerns is that it shouldn\u2019t step on the commercial prospects deal participants like such to ensure distributive justice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"s1\">The deal will undoubtedly push the CCI\u2019s merger control jurisprudence into a comprehensive one and shall be significant in laying down a vigilant yet compendious framework for future deals. While we are still speculating about the nature of the deal, JioMart has started testing WhatsApp for grocery orders in pursuance of the proposed deal. &#8220;The customer initiates the interaction on WhatsApp, checks out the grocery order on JioMart webpage, gets connected with a retail store on WhatsApp and then customer picks up the order from Kirana and pays in cash,\u201d said the news report<a href=\"#_ftn11\"><strong>[11]<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\" style=\"color: #008000;\">*Prateek and Samanvi are pursuing Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Corporate and Commercial Law from Nalsar University of Law, Hyderabad<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"#_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> Press release by Facebook (21.02.2020), <a href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2020\/04\/facebook-invests-in-jio\/\">https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2020\/04\/facebook-invests-in-jio\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a> <span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink\/WQBl5ZD9\">Competition Commission of India (Procedure in regard to the transactions of business relating to combinations) Regulations, 2011<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a> <span class=\"s1\">CCI has cleared over 600 combinations, and has not blocked even a single one. Only eight were subject to detailed Phase II enquiry, India: Merger Control (4<\/span><span class=\"s2\"><sup>th<\/sup><\/span><span class=\"s1\"> Edn.), AZB Partners, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azbpartners.com\/bank\/india-merger-control-4th-edition\/,\">https:\/\/www.azbpartners.com\/bank\/india-merger-control-4th-edition\/,<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a> <span class=\"s1\">Manish Singh, WhatsApp reaches 400 million users in India, Tech Crunch, (26.07.2020), <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2019\/07\/26\/whatsapp-india-users-400-million\/\">https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2019\/07\/26\/whatsapp-india-users-400-million\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref5\">[5]<\/a> <span class=\"s1\">Sanika Diwanji, <\/span><span class=\"s2\">Number of internet users in India from 2015 to 2018 with a forecast until 2023, Statista, (31.03.2020), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/255146\/number-of-internet-users-in-india\/\"><span class=\"s3\">https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/255146\/number-of-internet-users-in-india\/<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref6\">[6]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/tech\/internet\/internet-users-in-india-to-reach-627-million-in-2019-report\/articleshow\/68288868.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&amp;utm_medium=text&amp;utm_campaign=cppst\"><span class=\"s1\">PTI, <\/span><span class=\"s2\">Internet users in India to reach 627 million in 2019<\/span><\/a><span class=\"s1\">, <i>Economic Times<\/i>, (06.03.2019)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref7\">[7]<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink\/eJmu4nUf\"><span class=\"s1\">Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh v. Flipkart Internet Private Limited<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref8\">[8]<\/a> <span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink\/sUAcqx9O\">2013 SCC OnLine CCI 25<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref9\">[9]<\/a> <span class=\"s1\">AFP, <\/span><span class=\"s2\">Cambridge Analytica: <a href=\"https:\/\/gadgets.ndtv.com\/social-networking\/news\/cambridge-analytica-us-court-approves-record-5-billion-fine-of-facebook-over-privacy-2218223\">US Court Approves Record $5 Billion Fine of Facebook Over Privacy<\/a>, NDTV (25.04.2020)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref10\">[10]<\/a> <span class=\"s1\">Umar Javeed v. Google LLC, Case No. 39 of 2018, dated 16-4-2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref11\">[11]<\/a> <span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.business-standard.com\/article\/companies\/reliance-begins-using-whatsapp-for-grocery-deliveries-through-jiomart-120042700691_1.html\">Reliance Begins Using Whatsapp for Grocery Deliveries Through JioMart<\/a>, <i>Business Standard<\/i>, (27.04.2020) <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Samanvi Narang and Prateek Gupta*<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8808,"featured_media":229202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,42503,1191],"tags":[5461,18751,6671,3871,41199],"class_list":["post-229198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Business_Law","category-legal-analysis","category-op-ed","tag-cci","tag-competition-act","tag-competition-law","tag-facebook","tag-jio"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.4 (Yoast SEO v26.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Analysing the Competition Law issues in the ambitious Jio-Facebook deal | SCC Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Analysing the Competition Law issues in the ambitious Jio-Facebook deal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Samanvi Narang and Prateek Gupta*\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SCC Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/scc.online\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-07T12:30:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-14T14:02:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Competition-Commission.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1330\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"887\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bhumika Indulia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bhumika Indulia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/\",\"name\":\"Analysing the Competition Law issues in the ambitious Jio-Facebook deal | SCC Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Competition-Commission.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-07T12:30:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-14T14:02:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/919ec47cc1b871b362af05740398033a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Competition-Commission.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Competition-Commission.jpg\",\"width\":1330,\"height\":887},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Analysing the Competition Law issues in the ambitious Jio-Facebook deal\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"SCC Times\",\"description\":\"Bringing you the Best Analytical Legal News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/919ec47cc1b871b362af05740398033a\",\"name\":\"Bhumika Indulia\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Me-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Me-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Bhumika Indulia\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/author\/editor_1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Analysing the Competition Law issues in the ambitious Jio-Facebook deal | SCC Times","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Analysing the Competition Law issues in the ambitious Jio-Facebook deal","og_description":"by Samanvi Narang and Prateek Gupta*","og_url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/","og_site_name":"SCC Times","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/scc.online\/","article_published_time":"2020-05-07T12:30:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-07-14T14:02:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1330,"height":887,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Competition-Commission.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bhumika Indulia","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bhumika Indulia","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/","name":"Analysing the Competition Law issues in the ambitious Jio-Facebook deal | SCC Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Competition-Commission.jpg","datePublished":"2020-05-07T12:30:22+00:00","dateModified":"2020-07-14T14:02:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/919ec47cc1b871b362af05740398033a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Competition-Commission.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Competition-Commission.jpg","width":1330,"height":887},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/05\/07\/analysing-the-competition-law-issues-in-the-ambitious-jio-facebook-deal\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Analysing the Competition Law issues in the ambitious Jio-Facebook deal"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/","name":"SCC Times","description":"Bringing you the Best Analytical Legal News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/919ec47cc1b871b362af05740398033a","name":"Bhumika Indulia","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Me-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Me-150x150.jpg","caption":"Bhumika Indulia"},"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/author\/editor_1\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Competition-Commission.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":231353,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/06\/25\/jio-facebook-deal-cci-approves-acquisition-of-9-99-stake-in-jio-platforms-by-facebooks-subsidiary-jaadhu-holdings-llc\/","url_meta":{"origin":229198,"position":0},"title":"Jio-Facebook Deal | CCI approves acquisition of 9.99% stake in Jio Platforms by Facebooks&#8217; subsidiary Jaadhu Holdings LLC","author":"Bhumika Indulia","date":"June 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"CCI approves acquisition of 9.99% stake in Jio Platforms by Facebooks' subsidiary Jaadhu Holdings LLC The Competition Commission of India (CCI) approves acquisition of 9.99% stake in Jio Platforms by Jaadhu Holdings LLC. The proposed combination envisages acquisition of approximately 9.99% stake in Jio Platforms Limited (Jio Platforms)by Jaadhu Holdings\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Business News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Business News","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/news\/business_news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Competition-Commission.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Competition-Commission.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Competition-Commission.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Competition-Commission.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Competition-Commission.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":138361,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2017\/06\/22\/cci-introductory-offers-of-reliance-jio-does-not-amount-to-abuse-of-dominance-position\/","url_meta":{"origin":229198,"position":1},"title":"CCI: Introductory offers of Reliance Jio does not amount to abuse of dominance position","author":"Saba","date":"June 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Competition Commission of India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) issued an order stating that Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) introductory offers are not in contravention of Section 4 of the Competition Act, 2002. The informant alleged that RJIL OP-1 has hidden objectives of abusing its dominant position by use\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Briefs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Competition-Commission.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Competition-Commission.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Competition-Commission.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Competition-Commission.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Competition-Commission.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":380720,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/04\/11\/abuse-of-dominance-attempt-to-monopolise-india\/","url_meta":{"origin":229198,"position":2},"title":"Reframing Abuse of Dominance: The Case for an &#8220;Attempt to Monopolise&#8221; Standard in Indian Context","author":"Editor","date":"April 11, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Priyam Modi*","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Op Eds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Op Eds","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/op-ed\/legal-analysis\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Abuse of Dominance India","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Abuse-of-Dominance-India.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Abuse-of-Dominance-India.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Abuse-of-Dominance-India.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Abuse-of-Dominance-India.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":242651,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2021\/01\/23\/small-time-cartels-the-robin-hood-we-need\/","url_meta":{"origin":229198,"position":3},"title":"Small Time Cartels: The Robin Hood We Need?","author":"Bhumika Indulia","date":"January 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Soham Bhalerao[1] and Disha Gujarathi[2]","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Op Eds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Op Eds","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/op-ed\/legal-analysis\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/small.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/small.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/small.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/small.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/small.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":206365,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2018\/12\/07\/cci-had-no-jurisdiction-to-pass-order-for-enquiry-in-alleged-cartel-formed-between-airtel-idea-vodafone-coai-supreme-court\/","url_meta":{"origin":229198,"position":4},"title":"Supreme Court | TRAI and TDSAT to determine preliminary issues before CCI can decide competition issue","author":"Bhumika Indulia","date":"December 7, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Supreme Court:\u00a0A Bench comprising of A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan, JJ. dismissed an appeal filed against the judgment of Bombay High Court whereby it held that Competition Commission of India had no jurisdiction to pass order in the instant matter as the issues were covered by Indian Telegraph Act, 1885\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Briefs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":293806,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2023\/06\/05\/the-competition-amendment-act-2023-a-game-changer-for-mergers-and-acquisitions\/","url_meta":{"origin":229198,"position":5},"title":"The Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023: A Game Changer for Mergers and Acquisitions","author":"Editor","date":"June 5, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Aayushi Singh\u2020 and Pavitra Dubey\u2020\u2020","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Op Eds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Op Eds","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/op-ed\/legal-analysis\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"competition (amendment) act 2023","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/competition-amendment-act-2023.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/competition-amendment-act-2023.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/competition-amendment-act-2023.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/competition-amendment-act-2023.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8808"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}