WhatsApp doesn't have fundamental rights, can't challenge Indian law: Govt

WhatsApp has said earlier that it will not break its end-to-end encryption as that would undermine the privacy of users

The government filed an affidavit in the Delhi High Court, saying that WhatsApp, being a foreign company, cannot avail of fundamental rights under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution, invoke the jurisdiction of the court or challenge the constitutionality of an Indian law.

The Facebook-owned messaging giant had filed a lawsuit in the high court against the Indian government in May, seeking to block the traceability clause of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 that requires social media platforms with more than 5 million users to locate “the first originator of the information”, if