“[The] Ministry of Electronics and Data Know-how (MeitY) has shared that WhatsApp or Meta has not knowledgeable the federal government about any such plans,” Vaishnaw stated in a written reply to a query by Congress member Vivek Tankha, as per PTI report on Friday (July 26).
Tankha had requested whether or not WhatsApp was planning to close its providers in India as a result of authorities’s directives to share consumer particulars in accordance with the federal government instructions below Part 69A of the Data Know-how Act, 2000.
Responding to Tankha’s query on curbs on social media platforms, the I&B minister stated the central authorities issued instructions within the curiosity of the sovereignty or integrity of India, defence of India, safety of the state, pleasant relations with international states or public order or for stopping incitement to the fee of any cognisable offence referring to above in respect of the knowledge on a pc useful resource.
Earlier this yr, WhatsApp informed the Delhi Excessive Court docket that it’s going to cease functioning in India whether it is compelled by the federal government to interrupt encryption of messages.
“Folks use WhatsApp as a result of…”
Beforehand, WhatsApp challenged the newly amended IT Guidelines saying that they violate the appropriate to privateness and had been unconstitutional. WhatsApp informed the Delhi Excessive Court docket that its end-to-end encryption protects consumer privateness by making certain solely the sender and recipient can entry message content material.
“As a platform, we’re saying, if we’re informed to interrupt encryption, then WhatsApp goes,” Tejas Karia, showing for Whatsapp, informed a Division Bench. He added that individuals use WhatsApp due to the privateness options that it presents.
“India (is) a rustic that’s on the forefront… You’re main the world when it comes to how individuals and companies have embraced messaging,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had stated in a digital tackle at Meta’s annual occasion final yr.
WhatsApp has greater than 400 million customers in India, making it the most important marketplace for the platform.
