WhatsApp lawsuit: Act of defiance… privacy a right but national security also our job, says Centre. whatsapp goes to jail in india

 “WhatsApp’s challenge, at the very last moment, and despite having sufficient time and opportunity available during consultation process and after the rules were enacted, to the Intermediary Guidelines is an unfortunate attempt to prevent the same from coming into effect,” the MeitY said.

Messaging platform WhatsApp’s move to legally challenge the provision of tracking the first originator of a message is an “unfortunate attempt” and “a clear act of defiance of a measure whose intent can certainly not be doubted”, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said Wednesday.

“WhatsApp’s challenge, at the very last moment, and despite having sufficient time and opportunity available during consultation process and after the rules were enacted, to the Intermediary Guidelines is an unfortunate attempt to prevent the same from coming into effect,” the MeitY said.

On May 25,the last day to comply with the new social media and instant messaging platform guidelines, WhatsApp approached the Delhi High Court with a plea challenging the provision of tracing the first originator of the message. In its plea, WhatsApp said that this would require it to break its “end-to-end” encryption on its platform, which would, in turn, infringe upon the fundamental right to privacy of users.

“WhatsApp thus enables government officials, law enforcement, journalists, members of ethnic or religious groups, scholars, teachers, students, and the like to exercise their right to freedom of speech and expression without fear of retaliation,” the Facebook-owned platform said in its plea to the Delhi High Court