Abstract
On 4 th January 2021, Facebook owned WhatsApp announced its new privacy policy for India, which permitted WhatsApp to share users' metadata and their messages, including business accounts, with Facebook. On 25 th February 2021 Government of India(GOI) introduced Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which elucidates "traceability" of the identity of the first originator of the messages, which includes private messages as well. This questions the constitutionality, whether the
Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, are in contravention with Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees the Right to Privacy? Not only on Constitution, but it also has far reaching negative impacts on Intellectual Property Innovation, and Human Rights as well. Keeping the view of the Right to Privacy guaranteed by the Indian Constitution in the case of Justice K.S. Puttaswamy ( vs. Union of India, 2018. This paper seeks to provide insights into the legal battle between WhatsApp and GOI. This paper also attempts to look at consequences faced in other fields, i.e., Intellectual Property, Innovation, and Human Rights.
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