The Delhi High Court today ordered the Centre to respond to Facebook and WhatsApp's pleas challenging new IT rules for social media intermediaries that require messaging apps to "trace"
chats and provide measures to identify the originating source of information.
The new rules are being challenged on the grounds that they are unconstitutional and violate the right to privacy.
A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued the notice, directing the Centre to file a response to the petition as well as an application to stay the Rules' implementation
through the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
The case has been scheduled for a hearing on October 22.
Senior attorneys Harish Salve and Mukul Rohatgi, representing WhatsApp and Facebook, respectively, objected to the Centre's request for an adjournment claiming that the main advocate
was unavailable.
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The requirement of intermediaries enabling the identification of the first originator of information in India upon government or court order, according to WhatsApp, puts end-to-end encryption
and its benefits "at risk."
WhatsApp LLC has sought the high court to declare Rule 4(2) of the Intermediary Rules unconstitutional, ultra vires the IT Act, and illegal, and to exempt it from any criminal liability
for any alleged non-compliance with Rule 4(2), which requires the first originator of information to be identified.
On February 25, the government issued the new Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which requires large social media sites including
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp to comply with the rules by May 25.
The government's new IT guidelines, according to Whatsapp, infringe on the fundamental rights to privacy and free speech of the hundreds of millions of people who use WhatsApp to communicate
privately and securely.
For now, government officials, law enforcement, journalists, representatives of ethnic or religious groups, scholars, teachers, students, and others can use WhatsApp without fear of retaliation,
stated the plea.