Govt dismisses WhatsApp’s claim over new rules

The Centre on Wednesday said that WhatsApp’s “last minute challenge” to the new social media and intermediary guidelines, all clauses of which came into effect on May 25, is a “clear act of defiance” and an “unfortunate attempt to keep the guidelines from coming into effect”. “Any operations being run in India are subject to the law of the land. WhatsApp’s refusal to comply with the guidelines is a clear act of defiance of a measure whose intent can certainly not be doubted,” it added. The government said today it is committed to the right to privacy of citizens but it is subject to "reasonable restrictions" and "no fundamental right is absolute".

Minister of Electronics and IT (MeitY)  Ravi Shankar Prasad said that at the same time, it is also the responsibility of the government to maintain law and order and ensure national security.  Prasad said, “None of the measures proposed by India will impact the normal functioning of WhatsApp in any manner whatsoever and for the common users, there will be no impact. The rules have been framed after consultation with various stakeholders and social media intermediaries, including but not limited to WhatsApp, the government said.

” Clarifying the position, the government said, “Such requirements are only in case when the message is required for prevention, investigation or punishment of very serious offences related to the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, or public order, or of incitement to an offence relating to the above or in relation with rape, sexually explicit material or child sexual abuse material.” Responding to WhatsApp's lawsuit challenging new digital rules on grounds of violation of user privacy, The ministry said WhatsApp’s refusal to comply with the guidelines was a clear act of defiance of a measure whose intent could certainly not be doubted.

Platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter were given three months to comply with the new rules that require them to appoint a compliance officer in India, set up a grievance response mechanism and take down content within 36 hours of a legal order. The government on Wednesday wrote to major social media platforms on whether they had complied with new digital rules taking effect  and asked for their response as soon as possible.