New Delhi, April 27 -- WhatsApp informed the Delhi High Court on Thursday that it would exit India if compelled to compromise message and call encryption under the 2021 Information Technology Rules.

This challenge by the company comes against the backdrop of the rules allowing the government to request social media platforms to decrypt messages and identify the original sender.

During the hearing of the plea filed by WhatsApp and its parent company Meta, contesting a provision of the IT Rules mandating social media firms to disclose the initial sender of information, the company argued against Rule 4(2) of the 2021 IT Rules.

This rule stipulates that major social media companies must facilitate the identification of the first sender of...