New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on Monday (January 17) sought a response from both the Centre as well Facebook over non-security of data and conversations on WhatsApp. A petition before the court said that there is non-protection of data on both Facebook and WhatsApp which is violative of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

The petitioner said there are 157 million WhatsApp and Facebook users and hence the service provided by them should be treated as public utility service. One it is categorised as a public utility service the government must protect the personal data placed on these domains.

He further said that the Facebook and WhatApp must be treated on par with telecom service providers who face termination of licences if users are snooped upon. The SC has sought a response form the Centre, TRAI, Facebook in 2 weeks time.