WhatsApp vows action after deaths
INDIA HAS ASKED TECH GIANT TO ENSURE PLATFORM IS NOT USED TO FUEL KILLINGS
Responding to the Indian government’s concerns over the misuse of its platform for repeated circulation of provocative content, Facebook-owned WhatsApp yesterday wrote to the IT Ministry, saying the company is horrified by terrible acts of violence.
India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on Tuesday had asked WhatsApp to take immediate action and ensure that the platform is not used for such mala fide activities, amid growing instances of lynching of innocent people, owing to a large number of irresponsible and provocative messages filled circulated on the mobile messaging platform.
‘Testing new label’
“Thank you for your letter dated July 2. Like the Government of India, we’re horrified by these terrible acts of violence and wanted to respond quickly to the very important issues you have raised. We believe this is a challenge that requires government, civil society and technology companies to work together,” WhatsApp said in the reply to the ministry.
WhatsApp, which has more than 200 million monthly active users in India, listed several measures it is taking or has already put in action to control the spread of misinformation and abuse on its platform.
“We have been testing a new label in India that highlights when a message has been forwarded versus composed by the sender.
“This could serve as an important signal for recipients to think twice before forwarding messages because it lets a user know if content they received was written by the person they know or a potential rumour from someone else. We plan to launch this new feature soon,” the company informed.
According to media reports, over 30 people have been killed in the past one year by lynch mobs after rumours of child lifting triggered via messages on WhatsApp.
“Last week, we launched a new setting that enables administrators to decide who gets to send messages within individual groups. This will help reduce the spread of unwanted messages into important group conversations — as well as the forwarding of hoaxes and other content,” the popular messaging platform noted.