If the proposals made by Tamil Nadu Govt. is indeed accepted and approved by Supreme Court, then soon, every Whatsapp and Facebook user will have to link their Aadhaar or any other Govt ID proof.
But, Facebook is resisting this move, citing ‘user privacy’.
Ironically!
What all is happening here? And why?
TN Govt. To Supreme Court: Link Facebook, Whatsapp With Aadhaar
In a case related with curbing fake news, adult content and terrorist threats on social media, Tamil Nadu Govt has said to the Supreme Court that a Govt. ID should be linked with social media channels to curb the menace.
As per Tamil Nadu Govt., Facebook, Whatsapp and other social media portals should only allow users to create an account, after they link their Aadhaar with them.
Attorney General KK Venugopal, who is representing Tamil Nadu Govt in this case, presented this argument.
The case has reached the apex court, after Facebook requested that all such cases pertaining to Aadhaar linked social media profiles being heard in different states should be moved to Supreme Court.
High Court of Bombay, Madras and Madhya Pradesh are hearing similar cases in this regard.
Facebook Resists The Move To Link Aadhaar Of Users
Facebook has resisted the move by Tamil Nadu, demanding linking Aadhaar with users of Facebook and Whatsapp.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Facebook challenged this argument, citing privacy issues of the users, and the existing rules pertaining to usage of Aadhaar, where privacy can be violated.
He said,”They cannot tell us, how to run our platforms. We have end-to-end encryption on Whatsapp and even we don’t have access to the content. How can we tell them what is the Aadhaar number? We also have to take care of the privacy of the users”,
Tamil Nadu has also opposed the request made by Facebook to bring all the cases to Supreme Court, saying that Madras High Court has already heard 18 petitions in this regard.
Besides, Tamil Nadu Govt. has informed that a IIT Professor is working on ways to trace and track Whatsapp messages, which are fully encrypted. Facebook has maintained that they cannot trace encrypted messages.
A bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose will hear the petitions of both Tamil Nadu Govt. and Facebook on August 20th.
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