WhatsApp reveals plan to deal with false news in a letter to the government – Technology News, Firstpost



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Five men who, according to a WhatsApp message, were abducted by a child were lynched to death by a mob in western Maharashtra on July 1.

In a previous report on May 20, 14 people were reportedly killed on the basis of rumors circulating via social media channels such as WhatsApp. The lynching reports triggered by false news about WhatsApp reportedly came from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Assam, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.

The government of India in its response to the lynchings asked WhatsApp to repair the fake news problem and prevent its use for malafide purposes. The government made it clear that WhatsApp was in such a position that it could not evade responsibility and responsibility.

Facebook WhatsApp in his response wrote a letter to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology declared that he was "horrified" at the lynchings. He also added that they have tested ways to limit the problem of false news.

Here is the full text of WhatsApp's letter to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, in response to the situation

  Image representation. Reuters

Image of representation. Reuters

Thank you for your letter dated July 2nd. Like the Government of India, we are horrified by these terrible acts of violence and we wanted to respond quickly to the very important issues you raised. We believe that it is a challenge that requires the government, civil society and technology companies to work together.

Our strategy has been twofold:
First, give people the controls and information they need to stay safe; and
Second, to work proactively to prevent abuse on WhatsApp.

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WhatsApp is deeply concerned about the safety of people, that's why we designed our app with safety in mind right from the start. For example, you can prevent anyone from sending you messages in one go. And if someone who is not in your address book sends you a message, WhatsApp automatically asks you if you want to block or report that user. We have also recently made a number of changes to group discussions to prevent the release of unwanted information, which we believe will address some of the specific issues you raise.

In mid-May, we added new protections to prevent people from adding other people to groups that they had left – a form of Abuse that we think is important to correct. And last week, we launched a new setting that allows administrators to decide who can send messages to individual groups. This will help reduce the spread of unwanted messages in important group conversations – as well as sending hoaxes and other content.

In addition, we tested a new label in India that highlights when a the message was transmitted in relation to compound by the sender. This could be an important signal for recipients to think twice about forwarding messages, as this allows a user to know if the content they received was written by the person they know or a potential rumor of someone else. Finally, yesterday we announced a new collaborative project with leading academic experts in India to learn more about the spread of misinformation, which will help inform other products. future improvements – as well as our efforts to block the bad actors (see below) in the future.

Digital Literacy and verification of the facts

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This year, for the first time, we started working with fact-finding organizations. ] rumors and fake news – and respond to it – using WhatsApp.

  • For example, during the recent presidential election in Mexico, we worked closely with the Verificado news consortium. Users sent thousands of rumors to Verificado's WhatsApp account and, in turn, received regular updates on what was accurate and false
  • In Brazil, we work with 24 organizations on a similar program. the lessons of our experiences in both countries will help us fight false news in India
  • Already in India, the fact-checking organization Boom Live is available on WhatsApp and has published many important reports on the source of the rumors that contributed to the recent violence.

This kind of work gives everyone a better understanding of the false news circulating on WhatsApp and how it relates to shared misinformation on other platforms. Plus, it's a useful resource in WhatsApp where people can get answers about the content that was sent to them. That is why we are looking for the best way to intensify these efforts in India in the future.

Proactive Action to Combat Abuse

As you know, WhatsApp retains limited information and is encrypted end-to-end . We use this technology to protect the privacy and security of our users. While WhatsApp messages can be very viral, the way people use the app is by nature still very private. Many people (about 25 percent in India) are not part of a group; the majority of groups continue to be small (less than ten people) ; and nine out of ten messages are still sent from one person to another

People are using WhatsApp more and more for advice from their doctor, doing business or communicating with their bank – as well as to chat with family and friends. They want to know that these messages are private and secure – and that no one else is reading them. This focus on privacy has many benefits, although, like any technology, there are trade-offs. And for WhatsApp, it's inability to see problematic content spread through private conversations about our application.

That said, we have the ability to prevent spam, which includes some erroneous information that can create mistrust. and potentially violence. Since we can not see the content of messages sent via WhatsApp, we block messages based on user reports and the way they are sent. We use machine learning to identify accounts by sending a high volume of messages (faster than any human) and we are constantly working to improve our ability to stop unwanted automated messages.

We also respond to requests for law enforcement to help them investigate crimes. And soon, we will start a program of engagement with law enforcement officials in India so that they know our approach and how we can be helpful. We also want to share best practices on how WhatsApp is used by local police as a resource for their community. For example, the police of Hyderabad has created a WhatsApp account that anyone can send with rumors that concern them. And by working with community leaders to get them to use our latest features (see above), they can help educate their communities about hoaxes circulating locally. As we have already seen, this can help save lives.

If you want to talk more about the steps we are taking and our plans for the future, please let us know. We believe that false news, misinformation and the spread of hoaxes are the issues best handled collectively: by the government, civil society and technology companies working together. With good action, we can help improve the security of all by ensuring that communities are better equipped to deal with malicious hoaxes and misinformation – while allowing people to communicate reliably and privately through the Internet. 39; India. v, n, t, s) {if (f.fbq) returns; n = f.fbq = function () {n.callMethod?
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