A rather interesting report surfaced, WhatsApp could opt to leave its most important market. Sound confusing? Let me explain. Based on a report from Livemint, WhatsApp told the Delhi High Court that it would leave India if it’s forced to break encryption.
WhatsApp could opt to leave its most important market due to a new law
WhatsApp said the following: “As a platform we are saying [that] if we are told to break encryption, then WhatsApp goes”. The company added that one of the main reasons to use WhatsApp is for privacy reasons, and end-to-end encryption is one of the privacy pillars. Removing that option would break the trust WhatsApp has with its users.
Why did it even come to this? Well, due to a new law in India. Rule 4(2) of the Technology Rules, 2021, says that “significant” social media intermediaries (with more than 5 million registered users) must be able to identify the first originator of any information on its platform when ordered to do so by a court or another competent authority. The information mentioned includes texts, photos, videos, and so on, reports Livemint.
There are other problems to consider, other than the privacy aspect
In addition to the privacy aspect, WhatsApp also argued that complying with this rule would require the company to store a lot of messages for longer periods of time. That is something no country mandates, WhatsApp added.
The company also added that this rule basically exceeds the scope of its parental law, which does not mandate breaking encryption. WhatsApp also confirmed to the court that no other country made such a request regarding privacy/encryption.
On the flip side, the court argued that there must be a way to trace down the originators of messages, as there’s accountability to consider. The entire case is now on hold until August 14, when it will be mixed with more than a dozen other cases that challenge various parts of the IT rules.
WhatsApp has a massive number of users in India, over half a billion
Now, you may ask why is India WhatsApp’s most important market? Well, India has the largest number of WhatsApp users, by far. Based on the information provided by Statista, as of 2024, over 2.78 billion users use WhatsApp, globally.
Out of that number, 535.8 million users are in India. Brazil is trailing behind with 148 million users, and Indonesia is third with 112 million. The US if fifth with 98 million users, and so on.
The point is, India is, by far, the number one market for WhatsApp. If the app stops its operation in India, the company will lose over half a billion users.
