The Supreme Court on Thursday (November 14) dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) raising concerns about the privacy, integrity, and security of WhatsApp. The petition sought direction to the central government to ban the operations of the messaging service alleging that it does not function in conformity with the new Information Technology Rules (IT Rules).
A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Aravind Kumar said it’s not inclined to entertain the plea filed by Kerala resident Omanakuttan KG, a software engineer, as per a report by PTI.
What the PIL claimed
The PIL was filed by Omanakuttan, highlighting a vulnerability in the Android application that allows unauthorised replacement of media files. It alleged that WhatsApp violated the fundamental rights of the citizens guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution and posed a potential threat to national interest and national security.
Omanakuttan argued that this vulnerability could be exploited to breach the privacy, integrity, and security of communications, potentially even by individuals without specialised technical skills.
Omanakuttan appealed in Kerala HC
This is not the first time Omanakuttan has raised this issue. The petitioner had moved the Kerala High Court seeking directions to the central government to ban WhatsApp if it does not comply with the orders issued by government authorities. In 2021, the Kerala High Court dismissed a similar plea for being ‘premature’.
That plea also sought to compel WhatsApp to comply with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
The 2021 IT Rules, which mandate social media intermediaries like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter (now X) to trace the origin of messages, have been a point of contention. WhatsApp challenged these rules in the Delhi High Court.
