Supreme Court Dismisses Plea To Ban WhatsApp

The Supreme Court today (November 14) dismissed a public interest litigation seeking directions to the Central Government to ban the operation of WhatsApp for alleged violation of the orders of the legal authorities in the country.

Today, the Counsel for the petitioner, submitted before a bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and Aravind Kumar that the High Court's rejection of the PIL was simply based on the ground that the plea of "too premature".

However, without hearing anything further, the bench dismissed the petition.

Petitioner Omanakuttan KG, a software engineer, had first moved the Kerala High Court seeking a ban on Whatsapp alleging that it did not function in conformity with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

The petitioner also claimed that there was a wide scope of manipulation at the user end and that it was not viable to trace the origin of a message being circulated on the application.

It was alleged that WhatsApp refused to comply with the IT Rules as it violated the privacy of its users before the Delhi High Court. Whatsapp had challenged the "traceability" clause mentioned under Rule 4(2) of the Information Technology Rules, 2021, as violative of a person's right to privacy enshrined in the Supreme Court judgment of KS Puttuswamy v. Union of India.

The petitioner further stated the updated Privacy Policy openly mentions that the application will store, access and use the personal data of its users, including the battery remaining on their devices, which are grave violation of the right to privacy.

Condemning this policy, the petitioner claimed that the app lacks security and has been exposed to several bugs and errors over time. 

The petition also alleged that WhatsApp had implemented a separate privacy policy in Europe in compliance with their laws. Yet, the app refuses to comply with the laws in India, which is a glaring incongruity.

However, it was dismissed by the Kerala High Court on June 28, stating that the petition was premature. It was added that if there is any manipulation of the messages taking place, a proper investigation needs to be done.

Case Details: OMANAKUTTAN. K. G v. WHATSAPP APPLICATIONS SERVICES PRIVATE LTD AND ORS.., W.P.(C) No. 736/2024