Delhi HC notice to Centre on Whatsapp, Facebook pleas challenging IT Rules
In a major development, the Delhi High Court on Friday issued a notice to the Centre on WhatsApp and Facebook pleas challenging IT Rules, 2021, on the ground that the new set of rules would require messaging services to "trace" the origin of particular messages sent on the services.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh asked the Centre to file a reply on Facebook and Whatsapp pleas and listed the matter for October 22 as the next date of hearing. WhatsApp has earlier moved the Delhi High Court challenging against Central government recently imposed IT Rules that would require messaging services to "trace" the origin of particular messages sent on the service.
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WhatsApp through its statement said, "Requiring messaging apps to 'trace' chats is the equivalent of asking us to keep a fingerprint of every single message sent on WhatsApp, which would break end-to-end encryption and fundamentally undermines people's right to privacy."
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WhatsApp spokesperson said, "We have 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," stated Whatsapp.
On February 25, the Centre framed the IT Rules 2021, in the exercise of powers under section 87 (2) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and in supersession of the earlier Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2011, that came into effect from May 26.
The new guidelines issued by the government of India mandated a grievance redressal system for over the top (OTT) and digital portals in the country.
-PTC News
