On May 25, a day before it was required to comply with the new IT Act, 2021, WhatsApp sued the Government of India (GoI). The messaging app argued that the new IT intermediary guidelines — effective May 26 — would result in them having to break end-to-end encryption and thus infringe upon the fundamental right of privacy and free speech. The Centre’s new rules demand that significant social media platforms provide traceability of the first originator of unlawful messages.

The Indian government's new IT rules, which it says would be applicable only in ‘prevention, investigation or punishment of very serious offences’ dealing with the security of the state or in ‘offences in relation with rape, sexually explicit material or child sexual abuse material’, extend to various platforms including Twitter and Google.