NEW DELHI: A face-off may be brewing between
WhatsApp and the government over the issue of the traceability of messages exchanged on the Facebook-owned messaging service. IT and law minister
Ravi Shankar Prasad had claimed on Tuesday that WhatsApp was agreeable to explore technical solutions to trace the source of select messages.
WhatsApp is of the view that the move will undermine
end-to-end encryption and impact privacy of users. “Building traceability would undermine end-to-end encryption and the private nature of WhatsApp, creating the potential for serious misuse. WhatsApp will not weaken the privacy protections we provide,” the company spokesperson told PTI.
Having sought to shift the entire blame for lynchings driven by fake news on the messenger service, the government appears unwilling to accept that.
A senior ministry official told TOI, “Tracing the source of sinister campaigns — that lead to incidents such as lynching, revenge porn — is critical, and the government stands firm on the demand that WhatsApp provide technical solutions to identify the same.”
The official further added, “They need to continue to explore technical innovations whereby, in case of large-scale circulation of provocative and nefarious messages that lead to violence and crime, the origin can be ascertained.”
