Sparking a debate in India, Meta-owned popular messaging platform WhatsApp has said it will exit the domestic market if asked to break message encryption.
The government had said earlier that if there is no way to find the originator of messages without breaking encryption, then the company should come up with some other mechanism.
In 2019, the Centre asked the messaging platform to implement an identifier. It will allow the government and WhatsApp to pinpoint who sent which message, without having to read its contents.
Now, during a hearing of WhatsApp and Metaās petition challenging a rule of Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 in the Delhi High Court, the company has threatened to quit the Indian market, if asked to do so.