WhatsApp’s Warning About the End of its Platform in India: Explained

The Delhi High Court recently addressed the issue of privacy rights in the context of a hearing involving WhatsApp and Meta’s petition challenging a rule under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. During the hearing, the court emphasized that privacy rights are not absolute and called for a balance to be struck. The specific rule in question, Rule 4(2), requires social media companies engaged in providing messaging services to disclose the sender of a message if ordered to do so by a court or competent authority. However, this requirement is limited to cases related to national security, public order, or offenses involving serious crimes such as rape, sexually explicit material, or child sexual abuse material with a minimum jail term of five years.

The rule also stipulates that less intrusive means must be considered before such an order is passed. WhatsApp’s petition argued that the traceability requirement of this rule would compel the company to breach its end-to-end encryption, thereby violating the fundamental rights to privacy and free speech of its users. The company expressed concerns about the need to store and possibly decrypt millions of messages for an extended period, stating that this would fundamentally alter the privacy protections offered to its users. During the hearing, the advocate representing WhatsApp highlighted the lack of a similar rule in other countries and emphasized the company’s commitment to privacy.

However, the Centre countered, alleging that WhatsApp and Facebook monetize users’ information and have no legal basis to claim privacy protection. The government also suggested that WhatsApp should devise alternative mechanisms if it is unable to identify message originators without breaching encryption. The court is set to continue hearing the cases on August 14, indicating that this matter will be further deliberated in the near future.