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India’s infotech regulations take on global giants, but where is Plan B?
China banned Whatsapp, Google, and X/Twitter and got away with it, but their Chinese language counterparts were strong before that.
Representative Image / Amnesty International -Colin Foo
Last week in the Delhi High Court, counsel for the popular instant messaging app WhatsApp said: that if, as required under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 [updated as on 6.4.2023] it was compelled by the Indian government to trace chats on demand and to do this, break its end-to-end encryption, that would undermine the user’s privacy and kill WhatsApp’s core value proposition.
No such requirement exists anywhere in the world, the lawyer added saying “it means millions and millions of messages will have to be stored for a number of years," The company would rather Quit India, and give up its estimated 490 million users, its largest user base in the world.
"As a platform, we are saying, if we are told to break encryption, then WhatsApp goes."
The challenge to the Indian rules by Whatsapp’s owners Meta ( formerly Facebook) was adjourned till August – but India’s official unease over some of the world’s most popular social media tools and apps hangs over her half a billion or more Internet users and over a billion app-hungry smartphone owners like a disruptive cloud.
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