WhatsApp curbs India service

Firm acts to stop lynchings and govt’s threat of legal action

NEW DELHI: WhatsApp announced limits on the forwarding of messages by its 200 million Indian users in an effort to stop a spate of horrific lynchings and to assuage government threats of legal action in its biggest market.

More than 20 people have been butchered by crazed mobs in the past two months across India after being accused of child kidnapping and other crimes in viral messages circulated wildly on WhatsApp.

India’s government, scrambling to find a response, threatened legal action against WhatsApp, saying the “medium” for spreading malicious rumours “cannot evade responsibility and accountability”.

The Facebookowned firm responded with an announcement it will test limiting the ability of its users to forward messages and cap at five the number of contacts or groups that messages can be forwarded to.

It addition, it said it will “remove the quick forward button next to media messages”, a statement said.

“We believe that these changes – which we’ll continue to evaluate – will help keep WhatsApp the way it was designed to be: a private messaging app,” the company said.

Under pressure from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, the firm had already announced new features to help users identify messages that have been forwarded.

WhatsApp had also bought fullpage adverts in Indian newspapers with tips on how to spot misinformation.

If it (WhatsApp) remains mute spectators they are liable to be treated as abettors and thereafter face consequent legal action. Information Technology Ministry

But in a strongly worded statement released, India’s information technology ministry said this was not enough.

“Rampant circulation of irresponsible messages in large volumes on their platform have not been addressed adequately by WhatsApp,” the ministry said in the statement released to the media yesterday.

“If it (WhatsApp) remains mute spectators they are liable to be treated as abettors and thereafter face consequent legal action,” it said.

In India, people forward on WhatsApp more messages, photos and videos than any other country in the world, the company said.

In its statement, the ministry also called on WhatsApp to enable the “traceability” of provocative or inflammatory messages when an official request is made.

But the platform yesterday was again clear that the privacy of its users was paramount, saying messages would stay “endtoend encrypted”. — AFP