Instagram Chat Encryption Row | 'Approach Data Protection Board First' MP High Court To PIL Petitioner; Seeks Order By May 5

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday directed a petitioner challenging Meta/Instagram's recent decision to discontinue end-to-end encrypted messaging from May 8, to first approach the Data Protection Board of India (DPBI).

A bench of Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla and Justice Alok Awasthi further directed the DPBI to pass a "reasoned and speaking order" within 15 days of receiving the representation of the petitioner in accordance with legal provisions.

It may be noted that a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition has been filed before the Indore bench of the HC by Advocate Parth Sharma, challenging Instagram's notification stating that "End-to-end encrypted messaging on Instagram will no longer be supported after May 8, 2026".

In his PIL plea, Sharma has contended that the decision violates the right to privacy of citizens of India, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

During the hearing of the case, Additional Solicitor General Sunil Kumar Jain, who appeared for the centre, submitted that the petition does not fall within the scope of PIL.

It was further contended that the petitioner, before moving the HC, had not approached the statutory Board (DPBI) constituted under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023.

Considering this submission, the bench directed the petitioner to approach the Board constituted under Section 18 of the Act of 2023 within 07 days.

It further ordered that, if such representation is filed, the Board shall take a decision, in accordance with law, by passing a reasoned and speaking order, after affording the petitioner an opportunity of hearing within the next 15 days before May 6.

The Court has directed the petitioner to apprise the bench of the board's decision on the next date of hearing, May 6.

It may be noted that End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a globally recognised technological safeguard ensuring that only communicating users can read the messages, preventing unauthorised access even by the platform provider.

The PIL plea argues that removing end-to-end encryption protections in private messaging services exposes user data, and the lack of secure communication creates a chilling effect on free speech, as users may refrain from expressing themselves out of fear of surveillance.

The PIL ple thus prays for a direction to Meta to recall/remove the notification and to maintain end-to-end encryption in private messaging services.