‘All over the world governments are now threatening to monitor social media users’ posts online. Now, India is joining the effort with a new law expected to go into effect later this month that threatens Indian users’ privacy.
Social media companies will have to reveal users’ identities if Indian government agencies request their data, according to the country’s controversial new rules for social media companies and messaging apps with 5 million active users, which is expected to be published later this month, Bloomberg reported.
The new rules would signal blanket cooperation with Indian government inquiries, and would not require a warrant or judicial order. Further, if the law goes into effect, social media companies would be required to trace the origins of a post within 72 hours of a request. It isn’t clear if foreign users would be subjected to this treatment or how such actions would be handled in other countries.
Which, if this author is being honest, it may not be as easy as the Indian government thinks it is to trace users, given the existence of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). In fact, we may see the sale of VPNs like Private Internet Access skyrocket in India alone.
Tech companies like Facebook’s WhatsApp have expressed they will not comply with such requests, saying it threatens their users’ privacy and security.
WhatsApp will “not compromise on security because that would make people less safe,” the company said in a statement, adding its global user base had reached over 2 billion. “For even more protection, we work with top security experts, employ industry leading technology to stop misuse as well as provide controls and ways to report issues — without sacrificing privacy.”
Other tech company executives, from Mozilla Corp., GitHub Inc. and Cloudflare Inc. opposed the rules, writing in an open letter to India’s IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad that the guidelines could lead to “automated censorship” and increased surveillance. In order to be able to trace the originator of content, platforms would basically be required to surveil their users, undermine encryption, and harm the fundamental right to privacy of Indian users, they said.’
Read more: 400 Million Indian Users to Be De-Anonymized; UK Launches Social Media Monitoring Program With Ofcom
