The Delhi High Court has asked the Centre to reply to pleas by Facebook and WhatsApp that challenge the new IT rules. The new IT rules for social media requires social apps to trace chats and make rules to identify the first originator of the message. The pleas have questioned the new practices that violate the right to privacy and are illegal.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued notice and asked the government through the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to reply to the petition. Whatsapp said in its plea that the need for mediators allowing the identification of the first originator of a message puts end-to-end encryption and its benefits “at-risk”. WhatsApp has requested the high court to declare Rule 4(2) of the Intermediary Rules as illegal, ultra vires to the IT Act and asked that no criminal liability be forced on it.