As WhatsApp hits India's great firewall, other companies may help build it

In the name of a responsible internet, several will be eager to abet the government in soft censorship.

India’s internet future — free and open, or stymied and controlled — may be decided by a 224-page lawsuit filed by WhatsApp last week.
 

Saying that it wanted to curb fake news, revenge porn and other ills, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government introduced new rules in February that would compel social media platforms such as Facebook Inc.’s WhatsApp to trace chat messages, among other things.

As the three-month deadline for compliance ended, WhatsApp filed its petition in the Delhi High Court. The U.S. company is arguing that being asked to track the originator of a message has no legal sanction.