Court seeks response from the government over regulation of calls made using WhatsApp, Facebook

VD Moorthy approached the Delhi High Court seeking regulations on the functioning of WhatsApp and Facebook’s VoIP based calls. His original complaint claimed that these services stand to affect national security and will also bring huge losses to the national exchequer. The Delhi High Court, in response, has asked the Indian Government to produce a statement on the issue over the coming days. 

It’s clear that the arrival of WhatsApp and Facebook voice calling has brought down the carrier’s revenues in terms of voice calls. So clearly, this has not gone down well with some of them. While the motivation behind VD Moorthy’s petition cannot be ascertained at the moment, it is clear that the national security concerns raised are very valid as well. 

It will be a hard ask for the government to ban these VoIP services given that they account for a large number of calls made on social media. With Facebook and WhatsApp taking giant strides over the past few years, it will be interesting to see if this complaint will have any impact on their functioning in the country. 

The bench consisting of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal have since asked the Indian Government to make a comment on the same and do the needful. At the moment, it’s far from seeing a conclusion as it’s still a fresh complaint. One can only hope that common sense will prevail and that it won’t come in the way of the users. 

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