WhatsApp CEO to meet IT minister today

WhatsApp Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Chris Daniels is scheduled to meet Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday amid the controversy over viral circulation of fake news on the instant messaging platform.

Facebook- owned WhatsA pp has already received two notices from the government to check spread of fake news or be liable to be treated as an abettor. The government has toughenedits stand on Whats A pp as it wants the platform to tackle the problem of fake messages, which, in many cases has led to mob lynchings. Replying tonotices, WhatsApphassaid that it would strengthen its presence in India but it has expressed inability int racing origin of messages citing consumer privacy .“Tracing private messages would under mine the private nature of the a pp with the potential of serious consequences for free expression, which would be very troubling to many users ,” Whats A pp has told the government. This inability has become a bone of contention between Whats A pp and the government. The government feels that platformslike Whats A pp can not run away from its responsibility to check fake messages by simply naming privacy as an excuse. Whats A pp has been in talks with the Centre over the past coupleofmonths. Thefirm’s Chief Operating Officer Matthew Idem a had also met IT secretary A jay Sawhney last month. Recently, the messaging a pp had announced that it would limit forwardsofphotos, videos, and messages to five chat sin India and remove the quick forward button next to media messages. Also, the platform is testing a label, which marks links sent on chats as‘ suspicious’ in its bid to check spread of fake news and mis information.