WHY WHATSAPP MESSAGES CAN’T BE TRACKED

The anonymity provided by the messaging platform’s encrypted messages makes it difficult to track people spreading hate messages

WhatsApp uses an open system to communicate between users. These messages could be intercepted by unauthorised persons who could track and read messages in transit

WhatsApp could access the content if served with a legal notice. It could track who composed and forwarded a particular message since messages remained on its servers

AFTER APRIL 2016

WhatsApp introduces a new default end-to-end encryption system called Signal. The most powerful system of its kind used by a messaging app, it has perfect forward secrecy (PFS), which means keys used to scramble communication cannot be captured from the server

This means messages, videos, audios and SMSes cannot be tracked by unauthorised persons. Metadata, too, is encrypted when messages are in motion

Not possible to track originators of messages: for instance, who uploaded or shared a particular meme or where a video originated

A Mutual Legal Assistance

Treaty (MLAT) can be served to the US to access metadata about certain users that are stored on WhatsApp servers in California. This includes phone numbers, time stamps, connection duration, connection frequency as well as user information, sufficient to create a profile and usage pattern, but not to reveal contents of the message