Back then, WhatsApp called it a threat to privacy. However, WhatsApp has sued the government alleging that WhatsApp texts are end-to-end encrypted and in order to identify the originator of a particular text, it has to break encryption for those who have sent and received messages. The Indian government has said that the information will only be required for the purposes of prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment of an offence related to sovereignty and integrity of India, and others. The centre of the issue is that as per the new IT guidelines, messaging platforms with more than 5 Mn user base in India need to enable identification of the first originator of information. “The more some countries see other countries do it, or push for it, the more they want to push for it, too,” he continued.ģ0th October, 2022 WhatsApp vs Indian Government The WhatsApp CEO further added that at present, India is asking to find the first originator of the text, tomorrow some other country wants to push for it as well. I think that has real consequences for free society.” And not having the best security means that information is stolen. There will be even more sophisticated hackers, spyware companies, hostile governments, criminals trying to get access to it. Even more of our sensitive data will be online.

He added, “I think 10 years from now, even more of our lives will be online. And it undermines the security that end-to-end encryption provides,” Cathcart emphasised.

“With the IT rules in India, the specific thing those rules would require is us to build some system if someone comes to us and says ‘Hey, someone said the words ‘XYZ.’ Tell us who the first person who said the words XYZ.” That’s not private.

Ceo of whatsapp inc