New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday sought a response from the Center on petitions filed by Facebook and WhatsApp challenging the IT rules for social media companies. Under the new rule, it is necessary for the messaging app to find out who started a message.
Through these petitions, the new rules have been challenged on the ground that they violate the right to privacy and are unconstitutional. A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued the notice and directed the Center to file a reply to the petition through the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as well as an application seeking a stay on the implementation of the rules.
The next hearing will be on October 22
The court has listed the matter for further hearing on October 22. The Centre’s counsel sought adjournment of the hearing on the ground of non-availability of lead counsel, which was opposed by senior advocates Harish Salve and Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for WhatsApp and Facebook respectively.
Message originator provision unconstitutional
Facebook-owned WhatsApp said in its petition that the need for intermediary institutions to identify the originator of a message in India on a government or court order could be “end-to-end encryption” and its benefits were “risked”. puts in ‘. WhatsApp said that the provision to trace the originator of the message is unconstitutional and against the fundamental right to privacy.
The petition states that the need to trace the originator of the message compels the company to breach the privacy principle underlying it with ‘end-to-end encryption’ on its messaging service and to protect the privacy of millions of citizens who live there. who use WhatsApp to communicate privately and securely.
It said, “WhatsApp enables doctors and patients to have confidential health discussions with complete confidentiality, enables clients to communicate with their lawyers with the assurance that their communications are secure, as well as financially and assures government institutions that they can communicate securely and that no one else can access their conversations.”
The petition said, “The order to trace the originator of the message would make it difficult to predict which message may come under its purview. Therefore, the petitioner will be compelled to build upon the request of the Government in India the ability to identify the originator of each message sent to him on the platform. This would violate end-to-end encryption and its underlying privacy principles and violate the fundamental rights of users to privacy and freedom of expression.”
It is pertinent to note that Rule 4(2) of the Information Technology (Intermediate Guidelines and Digital Media Code of Conduct) Rules, 2021 states that social media intermediaries shall ensure that any chats if required under any judicial or government order, Or to identify the origin of the message.
The new rules were introduced to make social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Instagram more accountable and responsible for the content posted on their platforms. Social media companies must remove posts containing nudity or morphed images within 24 hours of receiving a complaint.
