WhatsApp warns Delhi High Court that if it is made to crack encryption, it would shut down

WhatsApp stressed that end-to-end encryption protects the conversations that are exchanged on its platform, making sure that the content is only accessible by the sender and the recipient. According to a WhatsApp representative testifying in court, this encryption is essential for protecting user privacy.

The corporation went on to say that if it had to violate message encryption, that would be a threat to its own existence. WhatsApp’s legal representative, Tejas Karia, informed the Delhi High Court Division Bench that if these demands were met, WhatsApp would have to shut down.

Karia underlined that WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption feature and other privacy safeguards are what draw users to the app. The content Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, which require social media intermediaries to enable message tracking and identify the original source of content upon court order, were opposed by the speaker.

WhatsApp claims that putting such policies into place would violate users’ right to privacy and weaken content encryption. Karia emphasized that this obligation is unique to the world, highlighting how intrusive it is.

In response, the government—represented by attorney Kirtiman Singh—argued that the guidelines’ goal of tracking message origins made an identifying method necessary. Singh used WhatsApp’s past questions to the US Congress as proof that these kinds of steps were necessary.

After careful consideration, the High Court stressed how crucial it is to strike a balance between the right to privacy and the necessity for investigation. Recognizing that there are limitations on privacy rights, the court set additional hearings for August 14 to discuss these issues.

Recently, the Delhi High Court received multiple challenges to the 2021 Rules from other high courts, which the Supreme Court combined for a single, unified decision-making process.