The bench ordered that the matter be listed for hearing on August 14 to await the transfer of all other petitions challenging several aspects of the 2021 IT Rules to it pursuant to a Supreme Court order.
WhatsApp, the world’s leading instant-messaging platform, has made a bold statement in the Delhi High Court that it would consider leaving India if forced to compromise the encryption of messages and calls. Advocate Tejas Karia, representing WhatsApp, emphasized that the platform’s users value the privacy and security provided by its end-to-end encryption feature. During the court proceedings, Karia firmly stated that if WhatsApp is compelled to break encryption, the company would have no choice but to exit the Indian market.
The Delhi High Court, presided over by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, was addressing petitions filed by WhatsApp and Meta (formerly Facebook). These petitions challenge Rule 4(2) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, as per Bar and Bench.
Rule 4(2) mandates that significant social media intermediaries must facilitate the identification of the first originator of information on their platforms when ordered by a court or competent authority. This rule has sparked a legal battle between the tech giants and the Indian government, raising concerns about privacy rights and data security.
Advocate Karia told the Court today that this provision would require WhatsApp to store millions and millions of messages for a number of years, requirement that exists nowhere else in the world. “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,” he said according to Bar and Bench.
He further stressed that the Rule under challenge goes beyond the parent Information Technology Act, which does not provide for breaking of encryption.
The Bench queried if a similar law exists anywhere else in the world.
“Have these matters been taken up anywhere in the world? You have never been asked to share the information anywhere in the world? Even in South America?”
Karia replied, “No, not even in Brazil.”
Meanwhile, the lawyer appearing for the Centre said the rule was significant when objectionable content is spread on platforms in cases such as those of communal violence.
The bench ordered that the matter be listed for hearing on August 14 to await the transfer of all other petitions challenging several aspects of the 2021 IT Rules to it pursuant to a Supreme Court order.
On March 22, the Supreme Court transferred to the Delhi High Court a batch of pleas pending before different high courts across the country challenging the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
Several petitions were pending on the issue before different high courts, including Karnataka, Madras, Calcutta, Kerala and Bombay.
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