WhatsApp, FB must abide by law: Centre tells HC in affidavit

The Union government on Friday told the Delhi high court that it is the legal obligation of social media intermediaries Facebook and WhatsApp to evolve a mechanism to identify who first sent a message that may have been forwarded to others, and they could not claim technical difficulties to deny legal compliances.

WhatsApp was among the first big companies to challenge Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 saying its section 4(2), which makes it mandatory for companies to trace which user first sent a forwarded message, would amount to a “dangerous invasion of privacy” and defeat a concept known as end-to-end encryption.