Spread Of Misinformation Through WhatsApp Led To Almost 30 Deaths In India

Publish Date : 2018-12-07

This week marked the meeting between the Indian tech ministry officials with the senior executives of WhatsApp, to request the Facebook Inc. unit to commence tracking and tracing of the origins of the messages that carry fake or misinformation on the messaging platform of WhatsApp. WhatsApp has a large market in India and has almost 220 million users thus it is necessary to curb the sinister problem of spreading inappropriate and fake news. Indian Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad stated that the work has begun and the country will soon see its effects. Such unreal information has created several serious problems in India including deaths of 30 people in these last two years. There was previous such requests made by the Indian government but WhatsApp has declined it. Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said that they have been asking for such traceability since a long time but are being declined, even though we have not given up and will make sure that this feature is soon available. WhatsApp representatives Counsel Brian Hennessy and others stated that they are working hard to avoid any spread of fake news. The Indian government also mentioned that WhatsApp regularly communicates with them in order to make sure that the messaging platform remains safe and personal for people to launch and therefore they are looking forward to our working together on the mutual goals. On the case WhatsApp explained that the new traceability feature will not at all harm the privacy of the users and still provide control over their data and contacts. WhatsApp is now organizing training in digital accessibility and literacy for community leaders for better guidance and decision making.