According to the report by several Indian media, social media platform Meta will withdraw its entire service from India if it is forced to breaks encryption.
This is what WhatsApp has claimed in the hearing of a case in the Delhi High Court. This was claimed by WhatsApp in the hearing of a case in the Delhi High Court on Thursday (25 March).
According to the Bar and Bench report, WhatsApp has claimed that WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption facilities. As a result, breaking this encryption will lead to a breach of user trust.
Which case is heard?
Challenging an aspect of India’s Information Technology Rules, 2021, the petition was filed by WhatsApp vs Indian government and its parent company Meta. Rule 4 (2) of the Act required social media intermediaries to trace the source of any chat through their messaging app. That is, the original source of a piece of information, a place to find where a message first started. If a court or any competent authority so directs, the ‘First Originator’ of that message should be found and identified.
WhatsApp’s claim, to comply with this section of the IT Rule, WhatsApp has to store a large number of messages for a certain number of years. That facility is now nowhere in the world.
According to a report by Business Standard, the Delhi High Court has told WhatsApp that it needs to keep the complete chain of messages because it is not clear when a message will be asked. WhatsApp claims that there is no such method anywhere in the world. However, the opposite side argues that in the current situation it is necessary to trace the source of such messages. It has been claimed that such information is required in cases of violence.
Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021- There have already been many cases in several High Courts challenging this law. Last March, the Supreme Court sent several cases to the Delhi High Court for hearing.