People Use Our Platform Because For Privacy, Will Leave India If Told To Break Encryption: WhatsApp
The Meta-owned company has said that it has no option, but to leave the country, if it is asked to break its message encryption. "As a platform, we are saying, if we are told to break encryption, then," the lawyer of WhatsApp said.
In what could become a major setback to millions of WhatsApp users in India, the Meta-owned company has said that it has no option, but to leave the country, it is asked to break its message encryption which protects user privacy. WhatsApp on Thursday informed the Delhi High Court that if it is made or compelled to break encryption of messages, then the platform will stop functioning.
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No encryption, no WhatsApp
"As a platform, we are saying, if we are told to break encryption, then WhatsApp goes," the lawyer of WhatsApp said in a submission.
According to WhatsApp, people use its platform largely because of the privacy features that it offers.
"Any rules undermining the encryption of content as well as the privacy of the users violate fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution of India", WhatsApp argued.
What is the case
The submission was made in a plea filed by WhatsApp and Meta against Rule 4(2) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 which stipulates that a significant social media intermediary shall enable the identification of the first originator of the information on its computer resource when an order to this effect is passed by a court or by the competent authority.
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No such rules anywhere
According to WhatsApp, such a requirement does not exist anywhere in the world, including in Brazil, the other major market of the instant messaging platform.
¡°We will have to keep a complete chain and we don¡¯t know which messages will be asked to be decrypted. It means millions and millions of messages will have to be stored for a number of years,¡± the lawyer said.
WhatsApp can't claim protecting user privacy
Earlier, the Centre had told the Delhi High Court that WhatsApp and Facebook which monetises users' information for business or commercial purposes are not legally entitled to claim that it protects privacy.
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Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY's) through an affidavit told the court that WhatsApp has already violated the fundamental rights of the users in India by denying them any dispute resolution rights in the country.
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