Status: 02.06.2021 07:39 a.m.
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According to the will of the Indian government, WhatsApp should reveal users’ data if the state so requests. The US company speaks of “mass surveillance” – and defends itself in court.
From Sibylle Licht,
ARD Studio New Delhi
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At the end of January, the Indian government issued new rules for digital platforms. She gave the US companies Facebook and Twitter three months to implement the rules in their Indian branches. Facebook should report the name and address of the users of its messenger service WhatsApp if the Indian government so requests. End-to-end encryption would then be obsolete. WhatsApp calls this an attempt at “mass surveillance”. Now the group has gone to court in New Delhi. WhatsApp has the largest number of users in the world in India.
Sibylle light
ARD Studio New Delhi
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Krishnesh Bapat is committed to digital rights and freedoms. He works for the Internet Freedom Foundation in India and is following WhatsApp’s lawsuit against India’s government. “What you post privately may be perfectly legal, but if the government doesn’t like the content, you’re now no longer safe from prosecution.” It is impossible to always find the source of a message, as users often put pictures, videos or text from the Internet in their messages, according to the lawyer for the Internet Freedom Foundation, Apar Gupta. “Every message has a fingerprint, so to speak, should be saved and forwarded to the authorities at any time if they ask for it.”
Violation of the rules threatens imprisonment
WhatsApp and Twitter play a big role in India. Families and groups of friends exchange ideas mainly via WhatsApp. Fake videos had already led to lynching in the past because alleged child kidnappers were shown on a video.
Governments of democratic societies around the world are trying to regulate digital platforms in order to curb the spread of hatred or agitation. The Indian government goes beyond international standards, according to Krishnesh Bapat of the Internet Freedom Foundation. She not only threatens the senders of WhatsApp messages with criminal law, she also wants to put those responsible at the Indian group branches in jail if they violate the rules. “According to international standards, violations of the rules are fined. India’s government wants to put local executives in jail. This is an aggressive move.” Since January, media companies have had to use local complaints, compliance and contact officers. They can be made directly liable.
Criticism of the government’s corona management
India’s government is currently reviewing Twitter by the New Delhi Supreme Court. The company from San Francisco has declared that they are complying with the rules in India. In April, the right-wing Hindu nationalist government asked US corporations to remove Twitter posts in India, among other things. The Indian users had also taken a critical look at the disastrous pandemic management of the government this year on WhatsApp.
New Delhi’s Supreme Court started the review of Twitter: “As long as the new rules have not been suspended, they must be followed.” India’s minister responsible for law, justice, electronics, information technology and communication, Ravi Shankar Prasad, made it clear once again: “Violations of the rules by the social media giants will not go unpunished.”
WhatsApp goes to court in India
Silke Diettrich, ARD New Delhi, 1.6.2021 5:47 p.m.
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