India threatens jail for Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter employees

The threats mark an escalation of India’s efforts to put pressure on US technology companies at a time when those companies are looking for the second most populous country in the world for growth in the coming years.

Some of the government’s data requests involve WhatsApp, which is extremely popular in India and promises users an encrypted communication that cannot be read by outsiders.

A WhatsApp spokesman said the company complies with data requests that are “in line with internationally recognized standards, including human rights, fair trials and the rule of law.” A Facebook spokesman said the company “responds to government data requests in accordance with applicable law and our terms of service.”

Twitter “will continue to advocate for the fundamentals of the open Internet,” a company spokesman said, adding: “Threats to these principles are growing worldwide, which is deeply worrying.”

An Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment.

India has adopted new rules that give leaders the power over online discourse to an unparalleled degree in other open societies, legal analysts say.

The rules require technology companies to appoint directors who are resident in India to meet government demands, including a contact person for “24×7 coordination with law enforcement agencies and officers to ensure compliance” with the orders, the rules say.

The rules would also oblige companies to remove content that undermines national security, public order and “decency or morality”.

Some companies, such as WhatsApp, also need to help identify the originator of messages. A government official said the rules would require platforms to track and store recordings of certain messages as they travel among users.

“In a way, you will find out if a message goes viral or not,” Rakesh Maheshwari, director of cyber law at India’s IT ministry, said in a Zoom forum hosted by an Indian internet trade association on Thursday.

Greg Nojeim, senior adviser to the Washington Democracy and Technology Center think tank, said the guidelines would require WhatsApp to archive what each user shares, robbing them of the absolute confidentiality of end-to-end encryption. one of the old applications. user benefits.

“A large country, by adopting and enforcing these rules, could make large messaging platforms either withdraw or not offer encrypted services worldwide,” Mr Nojeim said.

Legal observers say the rules do not provide a clear legal way to challenge requests to remove content or provide user data. Under India’s legal system, such applications do not require the prior approval of a court.

Beyond the risk of arrests, non-compliance would also threaten the future of technology companies in a market of more than 1.3 billion people, which, since closed in China, is the key to their global growth.

Facebook and WhatsApp have more users in India than in any other country. Facebook said last year that it would spend $ 5.7 billion on a new partnership with a telecommunications operator in India to expand operations in the country, the largest foreign investment. India is also the fastest growing global market for Twitter and crucial for its expansion as growth slows in more developed countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has already said it is willing to shut down popular social media platforms, last year banning TikTok, which had a much larger user base than Twitter, amid tensions with China.

Twitter in recent weeks has blocked, unlocked and then again blocked hundreds of accounts in India for posting materials that the Indian government has deemed inflammatory. The company said it refused to take other accounts despite government orders.

According to the latest statistics made public by Google, Facebook and Twitter, companies regularly reject Indian removal requests and user data. Facebook platforms complied with half of the government’s orders on user data, Google with 58% and Twitter with 1%, figures well below the global average of companies. Resistance to future demands could violate the law.

The Indian government seems ready for a fight. Delhi police, who report to the country’s Interior Ministry, have arrested Indians allegedly collaborating with foreigners through Zoom, WhatsApp and Google documents on a “toolkit” for social media activism in support of protest farmers. Police said the creation and promotion of the advice sheet was tantamount to sedition.

All three companies declined to comment on requests for government data related to the incident. News Corp.,

the owner of the Wall Street Journal publisher, Dow Jones & Co., has a commercial agreement to provide news via Facebook. Dow Jones has a commercial agreement to provide video content via Twitter.

A judge released one of the activists on bail last month, blaming the charges against her for “hurting the government’s vanity.” However, the arrests serve as a warning to both Indian dissidents and foreign technology platforms, said Mo Dhaliwal, co-founder of the Poetic Justice Foundation, a Canadian non-profit organization run by volunteers who created the original version of the toolkit.

“I am sending signals to anyone who would dare to organize or communicate through these tools that ‘if you do it again, we will find you,'” Mr Dhaliwal said.

Growing pressure has left technology companies in touch, said Jason Pielemeier, political director of the Global Network Initiative, a group focused on human rights and online privacy, which is partly funded by technology companies.

“In a market the size of India, it is difficult to take the nuclear option, that is, not to comply, and if we get stuck, we will bluff you or accept the consequences.” he said.

Mr Pielemeier compared the Indian government’s requirements for content, confidentiality and access to data with those made by the Chinese government before major internet platforms withdrew from the country.

The Indian government has portrayed the platforms as part of a conspiracy, he said, adding: “The big difference between past history and where we are now is that China has done well without those companies.”

Asked in recent years about tightening restrictions on US technology companies, the Indian government said it welcomed US companies, but said they had to comply with Indian regulations. Officials said the government wants to protect small Indian businesses, secure user data and allow space for their own technology companies in India.

Write to Jeff Horwitz at [email protected] and Newley Purnell at [email protected]