WhatsApp may shut down in India if forced to break encryption, as told to Delhi High Court. The platform argues this undermines user privacy and violates constitutional rights.
New Delhi: In a significant statement to the Delhi High Court, WhatsApp has announced that it would cease operations in India if compelled to break its message encryption. This Meta-owned platform maintains that end-to-end encryption is crucial for user privacy, allowing only the sender and recipient access to message contents.
"As a platform, we are saying, if we are told to break encryption, then WhatsApp goes," stated Tejas Karia, representing WhatsApp, before a Division Bench. Karia highlighted the importance of privacy features that attract over 400 million Indian users to WhatsApp, making it the company's largest market globally.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in a virtual address at Meta’s annual event last year, emphasized India's role as a leader in how businesses and individuals adopt messaging technologies. Meanwhile, WhatsApp and its parent company Meta are contesting the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021. These rules demand that the platforms trace chats and identify the originators of messages, which the companies argue would compromise encryption and infringe upon privacy rights protected by the Indian Constitution.
"There is no such rule anywhere else in the world. Not even in Brazil. 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," Karia added.
In contrast, Kirtiman Singh, representing the central government, defended the regulations, stressing the necessity to trace message originators in today's digital age. The Delhi High Court has scheduled the next hearing for the petitions by WhatsApp and Meta on August 14, noting that while privacy rights are crucial, they are not absolute and must be balanced.
"As a platform, we are saying, if we are told to break encryption, then WhatsApp goes," stated Tejas Karia, representing WhatsApp, before a Division Bench. Karia highlighted the importance of privacy features that attract over 400 million Indian users to WhatsApp, making it the company's largest market globally.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in a virtual address at Meta’s annual event last year, emphasized India's role as a leader in how businesses and individuals adopt messaging technologies. Meanwhile, WhatsApp and its parent company Meta are contesting the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021. These rules demand that the platforms trace chats and identify the originators of messages, which the companies argue would compromise encryption and infringe upon privacy rights protected by the Indian Constitution.
"There is no such rule anywhere else in the world. Not even in Brazil. 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," Karia added.
In contrast, Kirtiman Singh, representing the central government, defended the regulations, stressing the necessity to trace message originators in today's digital age. The Delhi High Court has scheduled the next hearing for the petitions by WhatsApp and Meta on August 14, noting that while privacy rights are crucial, they are not absolute and must be balanced.