The facebook-owned messaging app, WhatsApp, has filed a lawsuit against the Indian government for its rules that what it says will hurt the privacy of users.
Whatsapp filed the case in the Delhi High Court, challenging its new digital policy that came into effect today.
The new rules will require the messaging app to “trace” the origin of messages sent on the service, when it is asked.
“Requiring messaging apps to ‘trace’ chats is the equivalent of asking us to keep a fingerprint of every single message sent on WhatsApp, which would break end-to-end encryption and fundamentally undermines people’s right to privacy,” WhatsApp, which has nearly 400 million users in India, said in a statement today.
“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,” said a spokesperson the America-based tech firm.
WhatsApp has requested the high court to declare one of the new rules is a violation of privacy under the constitution of India, reported NDTV.
Saying messages on its service are end-to-end encrypted, it said that the new rules will require it break encryption for those who send and receive messages.
The traceability rule will also affect WhatsApp alternatives like Signal and Telegram which are inherently designed to be end-to-end encrypted.
WhatsApp, in its petition, has referred to a 2017 Supreme Court ruling that said privacy must be ensured in all cases except those where it comes under legal framework.
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