WhatsApp
promised it will work to tackle messages containing fake news which
have led to incidents of violence.
According
to a report by Reuters, WhatsApp made the promise early this month to
the Indian government which was said to be looking at ways to block social media
services including WhatsApp in extreme scenarios, as concerns grow
around the role such platforms play in public disorder. This is
obviously worrying for WhatsApp as India is its biggest market, with
more than 200 million users.
There
have also been concerns in the country that political parties are
using social media to spread fake news in the run-up to national
elections due to be held in 2019.
In
the wake of all this, WhatsApp CEO Chris Daniels held a meeting with
India’s IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and assured him the company
would figure out how to find the source of “sinister” messages.
It will also appoint a grievance officer to deal with issues in the
country.
“It
does not need rocket science to locate a message,” Prasad said
after the meeting.
He
added the Facebook-owned messaging service is working with law
enforcement agencies plus developing plans to to educate users about
fake messages.
Last
month WhatsApp said it is limiting the number of groups a
message can be forwarded to worldwide, with further restrictions in
India, where it removed a quick forward button found next to media
messages.
At
the time, the Indian government said WhatsApp was not doing enough.
It said if WhatsApp can target users for advertising purposes, it
should be able to find “explosive messages filled with rumours”.
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