A plea has been submitted in the Kerala High Court seeking a directive to the Central government to ban the operation and use of instant-communication application WhatsApp if it is not willing to cooperate with the lawful authorities in India.
The petitioner also sought a directive to the Central government to direct WhatsApp to comply with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021. The court will consider the petition on Monday.
KG Omanakuttan, a software engineer from the Idukki district in Kerala, submitted that "WhatsApp itself violates the privacy of its users. It is violating the fundamental rights of the citizens guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution and posing a potential threat to the national interest and national security. If the application 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 app cannot blame the law of this land," it added.
The plea further added that fake information in the form of texts, images, and videos has been widely spread and circulated on the platform. Character assassination of many prominent personalities of all political parties was done using such messages.
"The company stated in its privacy policy that it would collect any type of data from its users, including their phone's battery level. This statement was contrary to the claims of the app that the messages sent on its platform were protected by end-to-end encryption. The claims were baseless," it said.
The petition further said that no one is above the law and no one should be allowed to be so. The app should abide by the laws of this country so as to function here. If the app is not willing to change its technology and cooperate with the government, it should not be permitted to operate.
( With inputs from ANI )
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