Govt says it respects Right to Privacy, dismisses WhatsApp’s claim over new rules

The Centre has refuted the claim made by WhatsApp that the new social media rules violate the fundament Right to Privacy. In its rebuttal, the MeitY said news rules followed global precedence.

The Centre on Wednesday said that it had no intention of curtailing an individual’s Right to Privacy — which the Supreme Court declared a fundamental right in 2017 — while clarifying that the new rules would not impact the functioning of WhatsApp, the popular messaging app. "The Government of India is committed to ensure the Right of Privacy to all its citizens but at the same time, it is also the responsibility of the government to maintain law and order and ensure national security,” an official statement from the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) quoted Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad as saying. Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “None of the measures proposed by India will impact the normal functioning of WhatsApp in any manner whatsoever and for the common users, there will be no impact.”