Breaking Platform Lock-In: A Legal Analysis Of Why India Needs Messaging Interoperability
Recently, Meta announced that under the mandate of Europe's Digital Markets Act, it has built third-party interoperable features within WhatsApp to maintain equivalent privacy guarantees. Against this backdrop, by primarily using the examples of Arattai, Hike Messenger and WhatsApp, it is worth exploring India's stance on platform interoperability and whether a platform interoperability law on established players affects their market control and dominance, leading to fair competition and transparency for all stakeholders.
Platform interoperability refers to the creation of protocols, where similar platforms (for example, messaging apps, social media, payment systems) can communicate with each other to offer the end user the underlying services without having to switch applications. For instance, with a law mandating platform interoperability on a big player such as WhatsApp, a user on WhatsApp could exchange messages or interact with users on Signal/ Arattai/Telegram/ etc., without needing to switch the application.
I. Rise of Arattai and Fall of Hike
Launched in 2021 by Zoho Corporation, Arattai, a social media messenger application focusing on privacy and integration with Zoho's ecosystem, had at its peak crossed over 7.5 million downloads in India. Arattai was marketed as a rival to India's most used messenger application, WhatsApp, which has over 3 billion monthly active users, with more than 596 million users in India.[1]
The rise of Arattai was similar to India's first homegrown online messenger application: Hike Messenger. Hike launched in 2012, under Bharti Softbank, and quickly gained traction among the masses. Hosting features like free messaging and calling over data or Wi-Fi, file sharing, chat locking, last seen, read receipts, profile picture privacy, etc., Hike was, in many ways, ahead of its time. By 2017, Hike had evolved into a Super App, offering services such as Hike Wallet, News and Games, status updates and timelines, etc. At its peak, Hike Messenger had over 100 million users[2]. However, by 2021, Hike shut down operations.
II. Decline of Made in India Services
Indian entrepreneurs' attempts to develop home-grown social media/ messaging services, such as Hike Messenger/Koo/ Arattai, have repeatedly been hindered by a combination of market structure barriers and the abuse of dominant positions by global platforms. Factors such as capital asymmetry and the “Winner Take It All” equilibrium, where the first competitor to achieve scale captures the entire market, govern the success of the product.
For instance, while Hike Messenger was declining in daily active users, another messenger application, WhatsApp, introduced in India in 2013, reached over 200 million users by 2017. A key factor in its growth story was WhatsApp's ability to leverage India's capital asymmetry and lax data protection and antitrust laws to its advantage and create a network effect[3] for itself. By using phone numbers as identifiers, WhatsApp synced users' contacts from the phonebook to instantly show who was on the app and eliminated the need for users to migrate their network solely for the purpose of using the application. By doing this, and with its core architecture being ultralightweight, consuming less bandwidth, and allowing users to connect globally at a lower cost than SMS, it created an effect where WhatsApp's value now depended on the number of other consumers using the service. Something that Hike Messenger could not foresee, and Arattai, due to WhatsApp dominating 80% of the market, cannot access.
Secondly, the Competition Commission of India, India's antitrust authority, has repeatedly observed that WhatsApp's conduct raises concerns under the Competition Act, 2002. For instance, in 2021, the Commission held that WhatsApp's updated Privacy Policy, which stipulated mandatory data sharing with Facebook on a “TAKE-IT-OR-LEAVE-IT” basis, allows Meta to gain a competitive edge that other players cannot easily replicate, and to be in contravention of provisions of Section 4 of the Act, which clarifies what conduct could be considered as an abuse of dominant position.[4]
The WhatsApp, Hike Messenger, and Arattai examples here are to highlight how local players fail to evolve and expand when not able to match the data advantages, scale, capital depth, and cross-market integration. A way to mitigate this techno-feudalism is by incorporating a dedicated platform interoperability law. This allows users to transfer data across services without being locked into a single ecosystem.
III. Interoperability in Europe and India
a) Introduction of UPI Within the Fintech Sector and Its Impact:
On 11th April 2016, the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), a body regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, conducted a pilot launch of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) with 21 member banks.[5] This allowed instant 24/7 fund transfers between bank accounts and democratised digital payments. It further broke the closed-loop model of wallets like Paytm or Mobikwik, and triggered the rise of payment apps such as BHIM, PhonePe, Google Pay, etc. This was extended further when, on 27th December 2024, the RBI released a circular mandating Prepaid Instrument issuers to enable Full-KYC wallet holders to make UPI payments by linking their mobile wallets to the issuer's UPI handle.[6]
This meant users could use all major payment applications to make payments, with the underlying infrastructure supported by UPI. Furthermore, wallet issuers and UPI apps will now be able to compete on user interface, features, and service quality, and not just user lock-in. Lastly, the easy adoption and accessibility of UPI enabled several other interoperable government schemes, such as the Bharat Bill Payment System, Open Credit Enablement Network, and Account Aggregator framework.
b) Introduction of Mobile Number Portability Within the Telecom Sector and its Impact:
On 23rd September 2009, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued the Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability Regulations, 2009[7] (MNP Regulations), and after witnessing its success, extended this mandate to a pan-India basis by 2015. The MNP Regulations allowed users to keep the same numbers even if they switched their telecom service provider. This led to a reduced lock-in created by telecom operators, which led telecom operators to focus on quality and service, and eventually benefited Reliance Jio (a new entrant in 2016).
These are the strongest two demonstrations where interoperability has been operationalized as a core digital strategy across the digital ecosystem. These experiences provide a foundation to moot that social media interoperability is feasible with India's regulatory DNA.
c) Europe's Digital Markets Act and WhatsApp's Compliance:
On November 2022, the European Commission enforced the Digital Markets Act (DMA) to curb anti-competitive practices of large digital platforms and ensure a level playing field. Article 3 of the DMA, based on the size/ user base of the entity, whether their core business connects businesses to end users, and whether such a platform enjoys an entrenched position in the market, categorises entities as “Gatekeepers”. Upon being identified as a Gatekeeper, the DMA then imposes several obligations on them to ensure their end users have freedom of choice across apps and services, and they allow businesses to reach consumers without being forced into a Gatekeeper-controlled ecosystem. Presently, companies like Google, Apple, Meta and Amazon are identified as Gatekeepers.
On 14th November 20225, Meta announced that it is enabling third-party integration in WhatsApp for users in Europe, to comply with the DMA.[8] To interoperate, these third-party apps are to support encryption standards similar to WhatsApp's famous End-To-End Encryption.
IV. Concluding Thoughts
Enforcing a social media interoperability policy would require dominant platforms such as WhatsApp, X, YouTube, etc., to allow communication across platforms and enable third-party clients to plug into their networks. As has happened with Fintech and Telecom players, this will lead to social media platforms losing their “lock-in” immunity, and will have a direct impact on an incumbent platform's “Network Effect”, reducing the Winner-take-All dynamic that traditionally characterises Social Media platforms, and is a step towards reducing techno-feudalism.
A decentralized moderation breaks the hegemony of one algorithm. Platform interoperability may enable users to rank their feeds via third-party apps and enable “reduced harm” filters that can effectively filter extreme content to reduce hate speech and provide fact-based scientific information. Furthermore, Meta's compliance with the DMA within Europe highlights that an interoperable platform increases data transparency between players.
Author is an advocate. Views are personal.
References:
Backlinko Team, WhatsApp User Statistics: How Many People Use WhatsApp?, Backlinko, available at < https://backlinko.com/whatsapp-users?> dated 18th August 2025. ↑
Tech Desk, Hike Messenger crosses 100 million user base, valued at $1.4 bn, the Indian Express, available at < https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/hike-messenger-crosses-100-million-user-base-valued-at-1-4-bn-2980385/> dated 17th August 2016. ↑
Peter S Menell, Economic Analysis of Network Effects and intellectual Property, Berkley Technology Law Journal, Page 229, available at <http://btlj.org/data/articles2019/34_1/06_Menell_Web.pdf> last accessed 12th October 2025. ↑
In Re: Updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy of WhatsApp, Suo Motu Case No. 01 of 2021. ↑
Digital India, Unified Payment Interface, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, available at <https://www.digitalindia.gov.in/initiative/unified-payment-interface-upi/> last accessed on 11th November 2025. ↑
RBI/2024-2025/97, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) access for Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) through third-party applications, C.O.DPSS.POLC.No.S972/02-14-006/2024-25, Reserve Bank of India, available at < https://rbi.org.in/Scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=12756&Mode > dated 27th December 2024. ↑
Press Release No. 68/2009, TRAI issues Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability Regulations, 2009, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, available at < https://trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/2024-11/pr23sep09no68.pdf > dated 23rd September 2009. ↑
Meta, Messaging Interoperability: WhatsApp enables third-part chats for users in Europe, Meta Articles, available at < https://about.fb.com/news/2025/11/messaging-interoperability-whatsapp-enables-third-party-chats-for-users-in-europe/#:~:text=WhatsApp%20users%20in%20Europe%2C%20who,are%20ready%20to%20support%20this. > dated 14th November, 2025. ↑