Why WhatsApp sue Indian Government?

As the New IT (Digital Media) Rules of India came into force, WhatsApp has sued the Indian government in Delhi Court and asked to block regulations.

Why WhatsApp sued?

WhatsApp sued the government because, it is believed, law will compel social media units to break privacy protections. Thus, the lawsuit has asked Delhi High Court to declare “one of the new rules” is a violation of privacy rights as per Indian constitution because it requires social media companies to identify “first originator of information” if the authorities ask. Further, if WhatsApp starts identifying the wrongdoers it will break encryption policy of the app.

Background

Indian government has implemented the “new Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021”. New guidelines were released in February and provided three months’ time to social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Koo, Instagram and Twitter to comply with it.

New IT Rules 2021 for digital media platforms

According to new rules, now resident grievance officer will be appointed under larger grievance redressal mechanism. There will be active monitoring of content on social media platforms and monthly compliance reports will be made for Indian users. Now, authorities in India can also ask these platforms to identify the origin of any message.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2021