India: WhatsApp users in India wont be affected says government amid legal battle over new privacy rules

New Delhi: The government defended the new digital rules with full devotion, saying on Wednesday that it respects the right to privacy and asking WhatsApp's messaging platforms to disclose the original source of messages marked under the new IT rules is not a privacy violation . Along with this, the government has sought a compliance report from the social media companies regarding the new rules. However, Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the measures that India has proposed will not affect the normal functioning of WhatsApp. Also, it will not affect the common users of India.

The response came a day after WhatsApp challenged the government's new digital rules in the Delhi High Court. WhatsApp says that providing access to encrypted messages will break the privacy protection cover.

The statement issued by the Ministry of Information Technology said that under the new IT rules, only the information of their original source is needed to prevent or investigate messages of very serious crimes related to the sovereignty or public order of the country and the security of the country. .

The ministry, in a separate statement, asked social media companies such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp to immediately submit status reports about the status of compliance with the new digital regulations. The new rules came into effect from Wednesday. These companies did not respond to questions asked about the matter via e-mail.

The new rules were announced on 25 February. Under this new rule, large social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp (which have more than 5 million users in the country) will need to take additional measures. This includes appointment of Chief Compliance Officer, Nodal Officer and India-based Grievance Officer etc. These social media companies may have to lose their intermediary status if the rules are not followed. This condition gives them exemption and protection from liabilities for any third party information and data hosted by them. In other words, after the expiry of its status, action can be taken on the complaint.

The official statement said that social media companies in the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada are legally allowed to intervene in them. 'The demand that India is asking is significantly lower than the demand made in some other countries.'