Karnataka High Court directs Centre to ban Proton Mail
- Voltaire Staff
- Apr 30
- 2 min read
The Karnataka High Court has directed the Union government to begin proceedings to block the email service ProtonMail in India, following allegations that it was being misused for criminal activities, including bomb threats and the circulation of obscene content.
The case stems from a petition filed by M Moser Design Associates India Pvt Ltd, which alleged that its senior female employees had been targeted through abusive emails sent via Proton Mail, Live Law reported.
These emails reportedly contained sexually explicit content, including AI-generated deepfake images, and were circulated among staff, clients, and competitors, causing serious reputational and psychological harm.
On Tuesday, Justice M Nagaprasanna issued a directive to the central government to initiate action under relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act to block the email service. The judge ordered that the specific URLs linked to the abusive emails be blocked immediately, pending further proceedings by the Union.
The petitioner's counsel, Advocate Jatin Saighal, argued that Proton Mail servers are located outside India, particularly in Switzerland, and that the platform does not comply with Indian law enforcement requests.
He claimed the service poses a national security risk, and that countries like Russia and Saudi Arabia have already banned it.
In response, the Union government's counsel, Additional Solicitor General Aravind Kamath, acknowledged the challenge of accessing data from foreign servers but pointed out that India has a mutual legal assistance agreement with Switzerland. He said information can only be obtained through formal legal requests issued by a competent criminal court.
The petitioner also highlighted that despite an FIR being filed in November 2024 in connection with the harassment, no effective investigative steps had been taken, prompting them to approach the magistrate for oversight.
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