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WhatsApp sues India over unmasking rules, report says

Facebook's encrypted chat platform said it would have to keep tabs on all messages and break encryption to comply with new rules requiring the identification of some users, according to Reuters.

The Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram app icons, with the WhatsApp icon ready to be deleted.

Facebook's WhatsApp sued India over rules that it said would require it to break encryption, according to a report.

Image: Protocol

Facebook's WhatsApp has sued the Indian government, saying new requirements to identify certain users accused of crimes violates the country's constitutional privacy guarantees, according to a Reuters report.

The chat service, which is highly popular in India, said that the requirement to unveil the "first originator of information" would require it to keep tabs on all messages and break the app's encryption, said the report, which cited unnamed people familiar with the filing.

An unnamed government official said the app was not being asked to break encryption.

India has been increasingly clashing with social media companies. On Monday, members of Delhi Police's elite Special Cell reportedly visited two of Twitter's offices to serve a notice related to a "manipulated media" label that Twitter had recently applied to a tweet from a spokesperson for India's ruling party.

Ben Brody

Ben Brody (@ BenBrodyDC) is a senior reporter at Protocol focusing on how Congress, courts and agencies affect the online world we live in. He formerly covered tech policy and lobbying (including antitrust, Section 230 and privacy) at Bloomberg News, where he previously reported on the influence industry, government ethics and the 2016 presidential election. Before that, Ben covered business news at CNNMoney and AdAge, and all manner of stories in and around New York. He still loves appearing on the New York news radio he grew up with.

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