Instant messaging giant WhatsApp owned by Facebook has taken the privacy war to the Indian court saying that user privacy is in its DNA and the company will not share the information related to the “first originator of information” with any government including India.
As per reports filed by IANS on Wednesday (26 May), WhatsApp has filed the case against the Indian government in Delhi High Court, as the deadline to comply with the new IT (intermediary) rules 2021 meant for big social media platforms in India ended on Tuesday (25 May).
WhatsApp said that new rules infringe on users’ privacy and according to the company, from day one, “we built WhatsApp to help you stay in touch with friends, share vital information during natural disasters, reconnect with separated families, or seek a better life”.
“Some of your most personal moments are shared with WhatsApp, which is why we built end-to-end encryption into our app. When end-to-end encrypted, your messages, photos, videos, voice messages, documents, and calls are secured from falling into the wrong hands,” according to WhatsApp.
WhatsApp has also gone ahead with implementing its controversial user privacy policy from 15 May, stating that “we will maintain this approach until at least the forthcoming PDP (personal data protection) law comes into effect”.
However, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) made it very clear that the social media platform must abide by the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 by May 25, or face strict action.
The MeitY had announced its new IT draft (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules for social media platforms on February 25 and the new rules state, the social media platforms will have to remove offending content within 36 hours after a government directive or a legal order.
MeitY also mandated that the intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, must establish a grievance redressal mechanism for receiving/resolving complaints from the users or victims.
Facebook has over 400 million users in India on its user privacy policy,and it has defended its position, saying that it continues to engage with the government to resolve the issue.
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