WhatsApp traceability under IT Rules, 2021 faces Tripura test

A screenshot of a fake resignation letter bearing the forged signature of a chief minister has triggered a legal battle in Tripura and prompted the state police to use a little known provision of India's information technology law to try and pierce social media giant WhatsApp's encryption shield and force the behemoth to give up the origin of the viral message.

- Aditi Agrawal

The controversial Rule 4(2) of the 2021 Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code).

Rules, which are under the IT Act, allows the identification of the "first originator" of a message if the request is backed by a judicial order in cases involving serious crimes like rape or threats to national security.

This provision-known colloquially as the traceability rule - was invoked by the Tripura Police in May this year when it approached a local court for permission to track down the originator of a viral post with the forged signature of chief minister Manik Saha.

Experts said it was the first time that an Indian law enforcement agency used the provision against WhatsApp.

A local court in Agartala granted the request on May 27, setting off a confrontation with WhatsApp that has touted end continued on to-end encryption as one of its core offerings and told several Indian courts in the last few years that it cannot trace the origins of a message without dismantling its own protections.

After months of wrangling with the Tripura Police, WhatsApp finally approached the Tripura high court on September 22, asking it to set aside the traceability order. The high court granted a stay on September 26, but hearings will continue in December.

Requests sent to WhatsApp and Tripura Police did not receive responses till the time of going to print.