WhatsApp Services Shut Down In India? Check Out What I&B Minister Said In Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: Information and Finance Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Rajya Sabha last week that WhatsApp and its parent company Meta have not informed the government about any plans to shut down their services in India.

The information and media minister was responding to questions from Congressman Vivek Tankha on whether the messaging app plans to shut down its services in India due to government guidelines mandating sharing of user data.

Vaishnaw, in a written reply to Rajya Sabha, said, “The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has informed that neither WhatsApp nor Meta has informed the government about any such plans,” Vaishnaw said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

Vaishnaw said the Central Government issues directions under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 in the interest of sovereignty or integrity of India, defence of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any punishable offence relating thereto in relation to information contained in a computer resource.

Earlier this year, WhatsApp told the Delhi High Court that it would stop operating in India if the government forced it to break its messaging encryption.

WhatsApp and its parent company Meta have challenged recently amended information technology regulations, arguing they violate privacy rights and are unconstitutional.

Meanwhile, Meta-owned has revealed its WhatsApp service data in the U.S. for the first time. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said WhatsApp has reached 100 million users in the U.S.

Compared to the United States, WhatsApp has over 500 million monthly active users in India.

With agency data