Madras High Court asks WhatsApp if it complies with IT Act

Source: tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com

The Madras High Court, which is hearing a case on linking of social media accounts to an individual’s proof of identity, has asked social messaging platform WhatsApp to confirm whether it complies with the Information Technology Act, after the Tamil Nadu government accused it of not cooperating on police probes.

In an order on September 21, Madras High Court Judge M Satyanarayanan asked the Facebook-owned entity to respond after the state government said the encrypted messaging platform was bound to comply with the provisions of the IT Act, 2000.

ET has reviewed a copy of the order.

“This Court has also put a specific query…as to whether the said social media has taken a specific stand in one of the replies as to the full compliance of the provisions of Information Technology Act and rules framed thereunder,” the court said in its order.

“The learned senior counsel (for WhatsApp) is unable to respond immediately and also prays for some accommodation to find out as to whether any affidavit has been filed to that effect,” it said.

WhatsApp did not comment on the court order, but directed ET to the company’s privacy policy and FAQs on its website.

“We have conducted law enforcement trainings around the country and reached out to about 150 trainings with state and central agencies,” a spokesperson said.

India is the largest market for WhatsApp, with 400 million people using the messaging application.

WhatsApp has resisted the government’s attempts to access information on the origin of messages, which may the police catch perpetrators of misinformation and rumours on the platform. It has maintained that traceability is a violation of user privacy.

Arguing on behalf of WhatsApp, N L Raja sought an adjournment citing a Supreme Court directive to the high court that it could hear the case but not pass any order.

Raja responding on the matter of WhatsApp’s responsibility to provide information to state agencies said that the Centre was working on the Information Technology – Intermediaries Guidelines (Amendment Rules), 2018 and it was for the concerned central department to decide on.

The central government’s standing counsel told the court that deliberations on the guidelines were over and the counsel, however, submitted that this process of deciding on it was at an advanced stage. The should not prohibit the Madras High Court from proceeding further with the case.

India is working on amending rules under Section 79 that is aimed at curbing rumours and fake news over the internet and social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook and the ByteDance-owned TikTok.

A draft unveiled in December had suggested that companies with five million users will have to set up base in India, leading to higher tax liability and greater financial scrutiny from the government.

Separately, digital rights organisation Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court on Friday against Facebook’s plea to transfer the case from the Madras High Court.

IFF, which is an intervenor in the case, said the transfer would “adversely affect the ability of of ordinary Indian citizens to access justice by approaching their State High Courts”.