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A single WhatsApp message, distributed over 10 to 15 days, could kill a person in India today.
This statement is not the result of a single case, but of about 27 murders, in different states across the country. .
WhatsApp is a free messaging application that allows you to share texts and audiovisual content. More than one billion people around the world are using 200 million users of the application in India. WhatsApp also has free audio and video calling features.
WhatsApp said Wednesday that he was "horrified" by a wave of lynchings in India triggered by rumors shared rumors on his platform while the government accused the courier of irresponsibility. 
A participant holds a cell phone displaying a fake message shared on Facebook Inc.'s WhatsApp email service while he was attending an awareness event on fake news in the village of Balgera in Gadwal District, Telangana, India More than 20 people have been killed in India in the last two months, according to media reports, after rumors spread about smartphones about kidnappers, thieves and sexual predators . [19659002] The attacks – usually targeting outsiders – forced the authorities to scramble for an effective response, with public awareness campaigns and public alerts with limited effect. With more than 200 million users, India is the largest market of WhatsApp. His parent company Facebook has also been battling a global data privacy scandal
Cases
Although there is no clear marker of when this trend of fake messages has begun, it can be said that lynching incidents the end of April this year.
In all these cases, there are two common factors; a WhatsApp message that claims that some people are a threat to children, and a crowd that decides that street justice is their prerogative. These messages, always false or misguided, gave militiamen a new reason to take law and order in their own hands.
Here are some bloody examples of vigilantism fed by fake WhatsApp messages since then
April 27, Tamil Nadu: A man, falsely suspected of being a child trafficker based on WhatsApp and other social media posts, was caught, beaten up by villagers and then turned over to the police. After making sure that the man was actually innocent and mentally deficient, the police released him. He was then captured by a group of young people and beaten to death.
May 27, Andhra Pradesh: A transgender was killed when three people were beaten by a crowd in Chandrayangutta after rumors circulated about WhatsApp. alleging that the victims were part of a child trafficking gang. The victims had, however, asked for alms in the region during Ramadan.
June 8, Assam: Two men were lynched to death in Assam by a mob after messages from WhatsApp alleging that the men had a captive child in the SUV that they were traveling to viral. According to testimony, both men died when the police arrived at the scene. Later that week, a horrific video of one of the young men pleading was widely shared and viewed.
June 27, Gujarat: A 45-year-old destitute woman from a nomadic tribe of Rajasthan was beaten The death in Ahmedabad when a mob presented the accusing she and her tribe, to be kidnappers. The same message that triggered this attack, also led to four more murders in the state the same day. The message alleged that a group of foreigners had entered Gujarat to kidnap and sell children.
Mohinidevi Nath (C) and his family react after the death of his cousin Shantadevi Nath, who was killed by a crowd who falsely believed that she had the intention of abducting children, at their home on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, in western Gujarat, on June 27, 1945.
28 June, Tripura: Two separate murders took place in the state; all connected to WhatsApp viral messages. Sukanta Chakraborty, was attacked and lynched to death, while spreading consciousness on erroneous rumors. Another man was killed in West Tripura the same day, when a thousand people formed a crowd to "catch" four men, alleged to be kidnappers. They were hawkers from Uttar Pradesh.
And now the last …
July 1, Maharashtra: Five men were clubbed to death when a crowd of more than twenty people descended upon them in Dhule. One of the targeted men was seen talking to a local child, that is, when a group of people gathered around the men who started the attack. The men actually came from a nomadic community from another district, arrived in Dhule in search of a job
The Message
The message in these cases is still a fake content video, audio or text that alleges that a child gang traffic is loose in the city. Some of the images used, as reported by CNN, are children in war-torn Syria or even refugee camps in Rohingya.
According to reports, the police stated that these rumors arose from nowhere in many areas, without
Proponents of Nilotpal Das and Abhijit Nath (killed in Assam last month) hold candles during a protest in Guwahati. Both tourists were victims of crowd violence fueled by false rumors on social media
Messages sometimes focus on "strangers" in each state, meaning that targeted people do not speak the mother tongue and are migrants. In Tamil Nadu, for example, the victims included Hindi speakers from other states.
WhatsApp Dishonest
WhatsApp has more than 200 million users in India and is one of the most used communication platforms in the country. WhatsApp's current encryption systems mean that law enforcement officials can not effectively monitor all messages that may be considered false or provocative.
According to cyber-laws, administrators of WhatsApp groups that broadcast fake or malicious content. However, the accessibility of WhatsApp and data services does not help to "smother it in the bud".
A smartphone user can get up to 1.5 GB of data a day under Dh11 for 28 days in India. Even though he could not afford that, WhatsApp is a medium that requires a small amount of data to share and receive information – an allocation of 200 MB for less than 5 INR per day is sufficient to facilitate the spread of false messages.
Police and the Government
In most of these cases, the police arrested assailants – on the basis of video footage and evidence of scenes. The attackers were registered under charges of murder and riot. However, it is more difficult to trace the true propagators of the messages that led to the deaths.
A screenshot taken from the video of the gruesome killings of Assam; most of these perpetrators tend to take videos and pictures of the lynching. Two young men in Assam were beaten to death on false allegations of kidnapping children.
The Indian government has asked WhatsApp to take immediate action to end threats to the country's situation. The platform is not being used for such malafide activities, said an official statement in Mumbai on Tuesday: "Cases of lynching innocent people have been reported recently because of the large number of irresponsible and explosive messages filled with Rumors and provocations on Whatsapp: The unfortunate killings in many states such as Assam, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tripura and West Bengal are deeply painful and regrettable, said the statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. # 39; information. apprehend the guilty, the abuse of platforms like WhatsApp for the repeated circulation of this provocative content is also a matter of deep concern. "
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has taken note of these irresponsible messages and their circulation on these platforms" A deep disapproval of these developments has been passed on to the management of the WhatsApp and they were informed that the necessary corrective measures should be taken to prevent the proliferation of these fake and sometimes motivated / sensational messages, "the statement said.
The government also ordered that the broadcast of such messages be immediately contained in the application of It was also pointed out that "such a platform can not escape responsibility and responsibility, especially when good technological inventions are misused by miscreants who resort to provocative messages that lead to the spread of violence "
19659010] WhatsApp messenger of Facebook Inc. has told India that reducing the spread of fake messages across its platform is a challenge that required a partnership between technology firm, civil society and government
In a letter dated July 3 to India's IT Ministry and reviewed by Reuters, WhatsApp stated that it gave people the controls and information they needed to stay safe and secure. prevent unwanted information. 19659002] The firm also plans to conduct long-term advertising campaigns for public security in India, according to the letter.
India's Ministry of Information Technologies on Tuesday urged WhatsApp Messenger to take steps to prevent the spread of fake texts and provocative content that resulted in a series of lynchings and beatings in the country. across the country in the last few months
With agency contributions
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