Will cease to exist in India if made to break encryption: WhatsApp tells HC

WhatsApp told the Delhi High Court on Thursday that if it is made to break encryption of messages, then the social message platform would exit India.

“As a platform, we are saying, if we are told to break encryption, then WhatsApp goes,” counsel for the platform told the bench of acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora.

WhatsApp said that people use its platform because end-to-end messages are encrypted, ensuring privacy. End-to-end encryption is a private communication system in which only communicating users can participate.