During a recent court session, Meta, which owns WhatsApp and Facebook, notified the Delhi High Court that they will opt to cease their operations in India if instructed to eliminate the end-to-end encryption feature from their platform.
The bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora presided over the petition filed by Facebook and WhatsApp challenging the applicability of Rule 4(2) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. This rule mandates social media intermediaries to assist in identifying the original source of information upon court or competent authority orders.
Advocate Karia, representing WhatsApp and Facebook, emphasized that the primary value of the platform is to preserve privacy and secure encrypted communication. He asserted that WhatsApp would halt operations if compelled to compromise its encryption protocols.
Advocate Karia argued that compliance would necessitate storing billions of messages for extended periods, a demand unprecedented globally. In response to queries from the bench regarding similar issues in other markets, Advocate Karia clarified that no such demands had been made elsewhere, including in Brazil.
Standing Counsel Kirtiman Singh, representing Union, emphasized the importance of tracing message origins, particularly in contemporary society. Given India's status as WhatsApp's largest market, with over 500 million users, and its extensive use by government entities for real-time dissemination of crucial information, the stakes are significant, Standing Counsel Singh argued. He highlighted that the mandated measure exceeds the bounds of the Information Technology Act, which does not require compromising encryption.
Accordingly, the court listed the matter for August 14, 2024, alongside other litigations challenging various provisions of the IT Rules 2021.
Advocates For Petitioners: Advocates Varun Pathak, Amee Rana, Yash Karunakaran, Vishesh Sharma, Jhejesh R, Tejas Karia, Binsy Susan, Shashank Mishra, Akshi Rastogi, Parv Kaushik and Ritika Bansal
Advocates for Union: Standing Counsel Kirtiman Singh with Advocates Waize Ali Noor and Vidhi Jain
TAGS: Meta WhatsApp Facebook Delhi High Court end-to-end encryption Rule 4(2) Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021
