1 week Ago
The Supreme Court on Thursday, November 14, dismissed a PIL urging the Centre to ban WhatsApp if it fails to comply with Indian regulatory guidelines. The division bench, comprising Justices M.M.
Sundresh and Aravind Kumar, declined to entertain the plea filed by Kerala resident Omanakuttan KG, a software engineer, who argued that WhatsApp’s updated privacy policy violates users' privacy rights. Omanakuttan’s petition contended that WhatsApp’s privacy policy, which collects user data like battery information, breaches the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and undermines user privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution. The petition noted that while WhatsApp follows stricter privacy regulations in Europe, it has resisted similar compliance in India.
Previously dismissed by the Kerala High Court in June 2021 as "premature," the PIL reemerged in the Supreme Court, citing potential threats to national security and questioning the platform’s refusal to trace message origins under end-to-end encryption. The petitioner also raised concerns about the app’s role in spreading misinformation and the reliability of legal notices served through it. Despite these concerns, the Supreme Court dismissed the plea without further hearings, underscoring WhatsApp’s standing and the regulatory complexities around digital privacy in India.
.
