Activist asks Indian court to order probe into WhatsApp over hacking scandal

FILE PHOTO: A man poses with a smartphone in front of displayed Whatsapp logo in this illustration picture September 14, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A right-wing social activist in India filed a petition asking the country's top court to order a probe into Facebook Inc and WhatsApp over revelations that a piece of spyware had exploited vulnerabilities in the popular messaging app to snoop on hundreds of devices.

The petition could present a new legal headache for WhatsApp and its parent Facebook in India, where it has already been hit by backlash over fake news messages and a lawsuit around its adherence to data localisation norms that together have delayed the launch of a payments service on WhatsApp, which is used by over 400 million Indians.