WhatsApp LLC. and its parent company Meta, have moved the Delhi High Court, challenging the Information Technology rules enacted in 2021 that requires social media intermediaries to trace chats and make provisions to identify the first originator of information.
It has told the High Court that it would cease operations in India if compelled to compromise the encryption of messages on its platform. The advocate appearing for WhatsApp told the court that people use the platform due to the privacy it assures and also because messages are end-to-end encrypted.
The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 were announced by the government on February 25, 2021 and required large social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp to comply with the latest norms.
