Will WhatsApp shut down in India? IT minister says this: ‘Company has not informed’
The question came after previous statements from WhatsApp expressing concerns about new IT rules that the company said may break end-to-end encryption.
Information and Broadcasting minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that WhatsApp and its parent company Meta have not informed the Indian government of any plans to shut down their services in the country. This was in form of a written reply to the Rajya Sabha in response to a question by Congress member Vivek Tankha on whether WhatsApp was planning to cease operations in India due to government directives to share user details.
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The question came after previous statements from WhatsApp expressing concerns about new IT rules that the company said may break end-to-end encryption. Earlier this year, WhatsApp informed the Delhi High Court that it would stop functioning in India if it is being forced to break encryption on messages.
WhatsApp's lawyer, Tejas Karia, said that breaking encryption would undermine user privacy, compromise trust and necessitate storing millions of messages for extended periods. WhatsApp and Meta have challenged the amended IT Rules and said that they violate the right to privacy.
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Ashwini Vaishnaw explained in his response to Parliament that the government issues directions under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 in order to protect India's sovereignty, integrity, defense, security and public order.
“[The] Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has shared that WhatsApp or Meta has not informed the government about any such plans,” Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
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WhatsApp leaving India could significantly impact both the company and its user base of over 400 million people.
