The war has begun whatsApp has taken the government to high court over the new rules and policy that will govern social media , OTT and other streaming platforms . WhatsApp says that it has end to end inscription of its messages to safeguard user privacy and it cannot give government information about who was posting what since that infringes on their policy to safeguard the user . If it gives government and investigative agencies like the police then they will have to decrypt all messages on their platform which is not feasible .
Today Google CEO Sundar Pichai said they will comply with the rues and are looking for ways to work with governments around the world to tackle pricey issues and also the need to put a complaints redressal officer based out of India . The government has stated all posts that they ask to be removed should be removed with in 36 hours which also includes posts that show nudity , hate speech , child abuse or anti national activity . Google’s tone seems that they are ready to toe the line . But in WhatsApp’s case they have a technical hitch and issue as all the messages on their platforms are encrypted to protect privacy .
Big Tech seems to be saying that the rules are made to bully them and through the new rules propagated by the IT Ministry that are a means for the government for increasing it’s surveillance on there people and a way to silence the anti government narrative which is rampant on social media . They state that there where no complaints to remove posts or content by the government in 2014. But the complaints in the year 2021 have gone up to 2500 . The government was now curbing the freedom of speech of the people and that is an accusation that Twitter has levelled . In the garb of national security and protecting the users the government was asking social media sites to do mass surveillance on its people .
The battle is on and the government has threatened to revoke the protection the platforms get against any liability from third party postings on their platform . The request for having a compliance officer , a grievances redressal officer and a nodal officer has also been complied with as yet , as platforms have asked for more time to in gage with the government . It seems the government is also pushing KOO a local microblogging site that has agreed to adhere to all government rules from the onset . KOO has been positioned as a notional alternative to twitter .