Supreme Court Dismisses Plea Seeking Ban on WhatsApp in India Over Privacy Concerns

Highlights

• The Supreme Court dismissed a PIL seeking a ban on WhatsApp in India.
• Filed by Omanakuttan KG, the PIL argued that WhatsApp’s updated privacy policy violates user privacy.
• The PIL was previously dismissed by the Kerala High Court in 2021.

WhatsApp is a popular app today but it has often come under fire for privacy concerns. The matter this week made headlines as it came up in the apex court.

The Supreme Court has rejected a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a ban on WhatsApp if it does not comply with Indian regulatory guidelines.

The division bench comprising Justices M.M. Sundresh and Aravind Kumar declined to hear the plea filed in Kerala.

Omanakuttan KG is a software engineer from Kerala and has filed a PIL arguing that WhatsApp’s updated privacy policy violates users’ rights to privacy.

Omanakuttan’s petition alleged that WhatsApp’s policy collects sensitive user data, such as battery information, in violation of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

He further argued that this undermines user privacy guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The plea highlighted how WhatsApp adheres to stricter privacy norms in Europe but resists similar compliance in India.

The PIL was previously dismissed in the Kerala High Court in June 2021 as ‘premature.’ It later resurfaced in the Supreme Court raising broader concerns about national security and misinformation.

The petitioner also questioned WhatsApp’s refusal to trace message origins due to end-to-end encryption and criticized its reliability for serving legal notices.

However, the Supreme Court rejected the plea without further hearings emphasising the complexities surrounding digital privacy regulations and WhatsApp’s compliance with the Indian legal framework.

“If the app was not willing to change its technology and did not cooperate with the government, it should not be allowed to operate in the country.

The Centre had banned many websites and mobile apps for acting against the interest of the country,” the plea said.

The IT Rules introduced in 2021 made it mandatory for social media platforms including WhatsApp, X (then Twitter) and Facebook to maintain proper records of users and posts.

FAQs

Q1. What was the Supreme Court’s decision regarding the plea to ban WhatsApp?

Answer. The Supreme Court dismissed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking to ban WhatsApp in India over privacy concerns.

Q2. What were the main privacy concerns raised in the PIL against WhatsApp?

Answer. The PIL argued that WhatsApp’s updated privacy policy violates user privacy and the Information Technology Rules, 2021, and highlighted discrepancies between its compliance in Europe and India.

Q3. Why was the PIL seeking WhatsApp ban dismissed by the Kerala High Court?

Answer. The PIL was previously dismissed by the Kerala High Court in June 2021 as ‘premature,’ but it later resurfaced in the Supreme Court raising broader concerns about national security and misinformation.

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