India’s government asked Facebook to help it decrypt private messages on its network

The Indian government said at a court hearing today that Facebook has a responsibility to help them decrypt private messages on their networks for national security needs. India’s Attorney General K.K. Venugopal told the Supreme Court that told if national security is threatened, social media companies have a responsible party to share data. He said: ‘A terrorist cannot claim privacy. For Facebook and WhatsApp to say they cannot decrypt is not acceptable.’

Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp have about 400 million users in India. These apps allow users to exchange text, photos, and videos using ‘end-to-end’ encryption technology. This happens without the supervision of investigators and even the platform itself.

Facebook lawyer Mukul Rohtagi said in court that Facebook is not obligated to share user data with the Indian government. Rohtaji said that Indian law does not force companies to share data with government agencies, nor does it impose the responsibility of decrypting information on companies.

Via: Reuters