In a statement, the IT ministry termed WhatsApp's last moment challenge to the intermediary guidelines as an unfortunate attempt to prevent norms from coming into effect.
While the users of the three social media platforms remained clueless as they repeatedly received error messages for most part of the day, the stocks of Silicon Valley firm Facebook dropped by nearly five per cent as a result.
In an interview to PTI, WhatsApp head Will Cathcart said the Facebook-owned company remains committed to privacy and security of users across India and will continue to explain to users that their messages are end-to-end encrypted.
You can also read about the Indira Gandhi Assassination Case, the Parliament Attack Case, the Red Fort Attack Case, the Jessica Lal Murder Case, the Decriminalisation of Homosexuality Case among others.
From premium electric motorcycles to mass-market scooters, manufacturers are rapidly expanding their portfolios to capture a larger share of the booming market.
Sources further said that WhatsApp's policy update would also be evaluated in the context of the current legal framework.
The new IT rules require large digital platforms -- with over five million users -- to publish compliance reports every month, mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken.
A division bench headed by Justice Z A Haq and A B Borkar noted that an administrator of a WhatsApp group has only limited powers of adding or deleting members to the group and does not have the power to regulate or censor the content posted in the group.
The England Cricket Board has refrained from issuing NOCs to all-format players to play in the Pakistan Super League
The Delhi high court on Friday asked the Centre to reply to pleas by Facebook and WhatsApp challenging the new IT rules for social media intermediaries requiring the messaging app to "trace" chats and make provisions to identify the first originator of information.
'I am determined now to celebrate all festivals together.' 'People don't respond much when you try to convince them by talking about principles of secularism etc. But if we revive our shared cultural practices, specially food, we may get a better response.'
The party, however, did not say exactly when the Congress general secretary received the message.
Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday alleged the Delhi Police prevented the screening of a documentary exposing the 'secrets' and 'conspiracies' behind the arrest of his party leaders.
From dubbing voices to putting faces with the help of AI, political campaigns are undergoing a Bollywood makeover. Among the favourites is a scene from the Anil Kapoor-starrer Nayak, posted by the BJP, where Kapoor asks about the Chunaavi Vaade (poll promise), with Arvind Kejriwal at the receiving end instead of Amrish Puri.
'The startup ecosystem, the government, and the owners of large pools of Indian capital need to actively support the creation of these local champions, not pull down the teams that are trying hard to get there.'
Apart from physical access to handsets, metadata and backups are two common ways in which private communications can be broken.
WhatsApp has filed a lawsuit in the Delhi high court challenging the government's new digital rules saying the requirement for the company to provide access to encrypted messages will break privacy protections.
According to WhatsApp, the spyware was developed by Israel-based NSO Group and had been used to snoop on about 1,400 users globally, including 121 users from India.
A Haryana man who paid Rs 35 lakh to agents to facilitate his journey to the USA via the 'dunki' route was deported back to India after being apprehended in the US. The man, Pankaj Rawat, has filed a complaint with the Gujarat police accusing the agents of human trafficking and cheating.
The accused, in the present case, alleged it was a case of a "long friendly relationship" turning sour owing to the woman failing to repay a loan he gave her.
Bollywood actor Salman Khan has allegedly received a death threat again along with a demand of Rs 2 crore following which the Mumbai police have registered a first information report (FIR) against an unidentified person, an official on Wednesday.
FOMO-driven investing is reshaping India's stock market. Swati Saxena explains how social media hype fuels risky bets and how to protect your wealth.
Social media giant accused of anti-competitive conduct by abusing its market power to create a monopoly and crushing smaller competitors.
Islamist rebels almost took control of the central Syrian city of Homs on Thursday after capturing much of Aleppo, the country's largest city. Tens of thousands of people have been fleeing Homs.
A nursing student, along with four friends, staged her own kidnapping in Jhansi to blackmail her family into paying Rs 6 lakh after she lost money in online betting, police said on Thursday.
Another threat has been issued to Bollywood actor Salman Khan, with the sender demanding Rs 5 crore on 'behalf of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang', officials said on Friday.
The police took action after cyber patrolling revealed that 60 fake lottery apps, 25 fake Facebook profiles and 20 websites are connected to the scam, the SPMC release said.
The court also said that if the terms and conditions of most mobile apps are read, "you would be surprised as to what all you are consenting to".
The policy change was originally scheduled to come into effect on February 8, the Facebook-owned company said.
The fresh threat comes in the wake of the recent murder of Nationalist Congress Party leader Baba Siddique.
An extensive drug trafficking network operating throughout north India, with a particular focus on Shimla, has been busted following the arrest of two individuals - one from Kolkata and one from Delhi. The syndicate used online platforms for booking drugs, misusing innocent people's accounts and delivering drugs through couriers. Police have frozen 21 accounts associated with the network and arrested 16 individuals, including the kingpin, Sandeep Shah.
The court said it saw no merit in the petitions of Facebook and WhatsApp to interdict the investigation directed by the Competition Commission of India.
The affidavit further said that the IT Rules impose a host of obligations on a company in relation to the security of the data collected by it in the course of its business.
Bengaluru-based Nestaway's co-founder Amarendra Sahu has filed an First Information Report (FIR) alleging fraud, cheating, forgery of documents and criminal intimidation against Tiger Global, Chiratae Ventures and Goldman Sachs, in a rare instance of a startup founder filing a criminal complaint against its investors. The investors have approached the Orissa High Court, seeking to quash the FIR filed in September last year with the Bhubaneswar Police. The next hearing of the matter is scheduled for January 9.
The woman, identified as Fatima Khan, who has done B.Sc in Information Technology, resided in Ulhasnagar area of neighbouring Thane district of Maharashtra with her family members.
WhatsApp remains committed to the protection of all user messages through the product we provide, the company said
Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp has secured regulatory approval for launching its digital payment platform -- WhatApp Pay -- in a phased manner, close to two years after the US-based company's pilot run.
The plea, filed through advocate Vivek Narayan Sharma, had said that the public interest litigation was necessitated due to the alleged failure of the Centre in carrying out its constitutional duty and responsibility to protect the rights to privacy and freedom of speech and expression of the citizens of India.
Presently, people have to download their vaccination certificate by logging into the CoWin portal.
Terming as 'unfortunate' the January 29 stampede at Maha Kumbh where at least 30 people were killed, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a public interest litigation (PIL) for guidelines over safety of devotees and asked the petitioner to move the Allahabad high court instead.
