WhatsApp Warns of Platform’s End in India: Explanation

The Delhi High Court made a statement during a hearing of WhatsApp and Meta’s petition. It said that privacy rights are not absolute and called for a balance.

The petition challenges a specific rule of Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 known as Rule 4(2). This rule requires social media companies providing messaging services to reveal the sender of a message if there is a court or competent authority order to do so.

However, this requirement only applies to offenses related to national security, public order, rape, sexually explicit material, or child sexual abuse material with a minimum jail term of five years. The rule also states that if less intrusive means can identify the message’s originator, the order will not be passed.

The petition argues that this traceability requirement would force companies like WhatsApp to break end-to-end encryption and violate fundamental rights to privacy and free speech. Advocate Tejas Karia, representing WhatsApp, stressed that the rule was brought in without consultation.

He also emphasized that complying with the rule would necessitate storing millions of messages for years, as it is not known in advance which messages will be requested for decryption. During the hearing, the bench inquired if a similar rule is in place elsewhere in the world.

It was noted that efforts to hold Facebook more accountable are underway in various countries. The government highlighted the need for WhatsApp to come up with an alternative mechanism if there is no way to find the originator of messages without breaking encryption.

The court will continue to hear the cases on August 14.