A lawyer appearing for WhatsApp told the Delhi High Court that the Meta-owned messaging platform will have to "exit India" if it is made to break encryption of messages. The advocate told the court that people use the platform due to the privacy it assures and also because messages are end-to-end encrypted.
The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 were announced by the Centre on February 25, 2021. It requires large social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp to comply with the latest norms.
Appearing for the messaging platform, lawyer Tejas Karia told a bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, “As a platform, we are saying, if we are told to break encryption, then WhatsApp goes,” Bar and Bench reported.
"There is no such rule anywhere else in the world. Not even in Brazil," the lawyer replied.
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.
