New Delhi – WhatsApp has filed a lawsuit in the Delhi High Court against the central government’s new digital rules that come into effect today saying that these rules would completely break privacy protection. Now WhatsApp said that nearly 400 million users in India and these users if you do trace the origin of chats, the end to end encryption, would be broken for these users. In response to WhatsApp’s legal challenge on grounds of user privacy, the government today has said that it is committed to the right to privacy, but it’s not absolute.
The gloves appear to be finally off. The wildly popular chat app WhatsApp has sued the Indian government, the first social media giant to do so, arguing that the new IT rules which come into force from today could break its privacy protections. In its petition before the Delhi High Court, WhatsApp, which has over 400 million users in India asked for declaring the rule to identify the first originator of the information as unconstitutional.
In a statement WhatsApp said, requiring messaging apps to trace chats is the equivalent of asking us to keep a fingerprint of every single message sent on WhatsApp. This would break into encryption and fundamentally undermines people’s right to privacy.
We have consistently joined civil society and experts around the world in opposition to requirements that would violate the privacy of our users. In the meantime, we will continue to engage with the Government of India on practical solutions aimed at keeping people safe.
WhatsApp has moved Delhi High Court challenging the intermediary guidelines calling it to be unconstitutional. WhatsApp in his petition before the Delhi High Court plates, the rule to identify the first originator of information was against a fundamental right of right to privacy.
The Government of India responds to the Whatsapps petition and has said that the right to privacy is not absolute. The center has further said that the traceability guidelines are a reasonable restriction and are not contrary to the right to privacy. Foolhardy to doubt the objective behind intermediary guidelines which aim to protect law and order.
Taking the government to court is a major step for a social media giant like WhatsApp, which has been often criticized for getting into government overreach with an eye on India’s booming digital market.
Whatsapps petition comes at a time of rising tensions between social media firms and the Indian government. Just two days ago, Delhi police had visited the offices of Twitter after it had labeled tweets by BJP leaders as manipulated content.
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