WhatsApp is suing the Indian government over new digital rules that will force the messaging service to violate privacy protections. It said rules tha

WhatsApp: Facebook-owned app goes to court over India privacy rules

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2021-05-26 17:00:14

WhatsApp is suing the Indian government over new digital rules that will force the messaging service to violate privacy protections.

It said rules that require tracing the origin of chats were the equivalent of keeping a "fingerprint of every single message sent on the service".

The government's rules for social media said that messaging platforms would need to make provisions for the "identification of the first originator of the information".

In a statement, a WhatsApp spokesperson said that the rules "would break end-to-end encryption and fundamentally undermine people's right to privacy".

"We have consistently joined civil society and experts around the world in opposing requirements that would violate the privacy of our users. In the meantime, we will also continue to engage with the government of India on practical solutions aimed at keeping people safe, including responding to valid legal requests for the information available to us," WhatsApp said.

According to the messaging service, traceability of texts would force private companies to collect and store billions of messages sent each day for the sole purpose of turning it over to law enforcement agencies.