WhatsApp takes govt to court, says new media rules mean end to privacy

While the law requires WhatsApp to unmask only people credibly accused of wrongdoing, the company says it cannot do that alone

WhatsApp has moved the Delhi High Court against the Social Media Intermediary rules 2021, which came into force from Wednesday, contending these provisions were likely to break users' right to privacy and end-to-end encryption on its messaging service.

The petition filed by the Facebook-owned company on Tuesday questioned the validity of new rules to "trace" the origin of messages sent on the service, on an order by court or the government, and criminal liability enforced upon its employees on failure to do so.

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"Identification of the first originator of a message under the new rules infringed upon the fundamental rights to privacy and free speech of the hundreds of millions of citizens using WhatsApp to communicate privately and securely," its petition said.

“It is equivalent of asking us to keep a fingerprint of every single message sent on WhatsApp," the company spokesperson said in a statement.

WhatsApp claimed it "enables government officials, law enforcement, journalists, members of ethnic or religious groups, scholars, teachers, students, and the like to exercise their right to freedom of speech and expression without fear of retaliation."

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It also pointed out the company banned about two million WhatsApp accounts per month globally for violations of its Terms of Service.

The company sought a direction of the court to declare Rule 4(2) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 as unconstitutional and ultra vires of the IT Act, 2000, for violating the fundamental rights to equality, freedom of speech and carry on occupation. It relied upon the landmark ruling by apex court's nine-judge bench in the right to privacy case (K S Puttaswamy) among others to support its plea.

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The company spokesperson said it has consistently joined civil society and experts around the world in opposing requirements that would violate the privacy of our users.

"In the meantime, we will also continue to engage with the Government of India on practical solutions aimed at keeping people safe, including responding to valid legal requests for the information available to us.” the company spokesperson said.

The new rules, announced in February, required large social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp to follow additional due diligence, including the appointment of a chief compliance officer, nodal contact person and resident grievance officer, monitoring of objectionable content, preparing monthly compliance report and removal of objectionable content.

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The new rules also specified that social media firms adopt features such as traceability of messages and voluntary user verification.

WhatsApp also filed a petition before the Supreme Court of Brazil in a similar matter.

With the news rules, social media platforms no longer can claim legal immunity from what is posted on their site.

Though Facebook said it "aims to comply" with the new rules, the US-based firm maintained it wanted to discuss some "issues which need more engagement".

Google on Tuesday claimed "long history" of managing content according to local laws, while Koo, Indian rival to Twitter, said it has already complied with new rules.