In response to a question by Congress MP Vivek Tankha, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently told the Rajya Sabha that WhatsApp and its parent company Meta have not informed the government about any plans to shut down their services in India.
New Delhi. There is a lot of speculation about the closure of instant messaging platform WhatsApp in India. Meanwhile, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently told the Rajya Sabha that WhatsApp and its parent company Meta have not informed the government about any plan to shut down their services in India.
Vaishnaw said in a written reply, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has shared that WhatsApp or Meta have not informed the government about any such plan. In the Rajya Sabha, Congress MP Vivek Tankha had asked whether WhatsApp is planning to shut down its services in India due to the government’s instructions to share user-related details.
Instructions are issued under Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000
Responding to Tankha’s question on restrictions on social media platforms, Vaishnav said that the Central Government issues instructions under Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000 to prevent any cognizable offence related to the sovereignty or integrity of the country, defence of the country etc.
WhatsApp had said this in the Delhi High Court
Earlier this year, WhatsApp had told the Delhi High Court that if the government forces it to break the encryption of messages, it will stop working in India. WhatsApp and Meta had challenged the newly amended IT rules, saying that they violate the right to privacy and are unconstitutional.(news18)
