WhatsApp Goes: Platform Reportedly Warns It Will Exit India If Asked to Break End-to-End Encryption

WhatsApp told the Delhi High Court on Thursday that it could halt operations in India if it is asked to break end-to-end encryption on its platform, according to a report. The Meta-owned instant messaging platform made the statement during the hearing of the petition filed by it and Facebook challenging Rule 4(2) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Code of Ethics) Rules of 2021. In particular, this rule states that a social media intermediary will help identify the first author of a given message when ordered to do so by a competent authority.

According to a Bar and Bench report, advocate Tejas Karia, representing WhatsApp, told a bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, “As a platform, we are saying, if we are told that we crack the encryption, then WhatsApp goes.” Karia also emphasized that people use the platform because they feel reassured by its focus on privacy and security and because messages are end-to-end encrypted.

The lawyer was referring to Rule 4(2) which says: “A major social media intermediary that provides primarily messaging services must allow the identification of the first originator of the information in its computer resource as required by a court order . passed by a court of competent jurisdiction or an order made under section 69 of the Act by the competent authority.”

Karia further argued that this rule will force WhatsApp to store millions of messages on its server for several years, as the platform does not know which messages may be asked to be decrypted. This effort could also stress the platform's cloud servers and make the servers more expensive to operate and maintain. Karia emphasized that WhatsApp has not been asked to share this information anywhere in the world.

Meanwhile, Kirtiman Singh, the Permanent Counsel to the Central Government (CGSC), stated that there needs to be some mechanism in social media to track certain messages. The Court has considered that a balance must be achieved between both parties. The case has been adjourned to August 14.