WhatsApp, the popular messaging app, is known for frequently introducing new features and updates to cater to the needs of its users. With nearly 400 million users in India, WhatsApp plays a significant role in the country’s digital communication. However, recent warnings issued by the company could potentially escalate problems for Indian WhatsApp users.
WhatsApp has recently issued a warning about possibly leaving India. The company has refused to remove encryption in the Delhi High Court and stated that if the court forces it to do so, the company will cease its operations in India. This implies that WhatsApp could shut down in India. The parent company, Meta, has challenged the IT Rules, 2021.
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WhatsApp could shut down in India because the company insists that user privacy is protected through end-to-end encryption. This ensures that only the sender and the recipient of a message can know its content.
According to a rule in the 2021 Information Technology (IT) Act, social media platforms and messaging apps are required to trace user chats and identify the originator of a message. This feature was introduced by the company in response to privacy concerns.
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This means that a rule has been established to trace user messages to identify who sent a message first. If WhatsApp follows this rule, it would have to trace all user messages and then keep a record of them for years. However, this would end the end-to-end encryption feature. The Central Government announced the 2021 Information Technology (IT) Act on February 25, 2021. Following this, major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Twitter (now X) will have to comply with the new rules.
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However, WhatsApp does not want to comply with this rule. Tejas Kariya, on behalf of WhatsApp, stated, ‘As a platform, we are saying, if we are asked to break encryption, then WhatsApp will leave India. In fact, ‘we will have to keep the entire chain, and we don’t know which message will be asked to decrypt. The implication of this rule is that we will have to store millions of messages for years. The bench asked in this case whether there are such rules in other countries. In response, Tejas Kariya from WhatsApp said, ‘No, there is no such rule anywhere in the world. Even in Brazil, there is no such rule. Now, the next hearing in this case will be on August 14. It will be interesting to see what decision comes out in the next hearing regarding WhatsApp on August 14.
