[ad_1]
NEW DELHI – WhatsApp reacted to government criticism following a series of lynchings allegedly caused by spreading false rumors through its service and launched an awareness campaign to help users spot false information [19659002] is the property of Facebook, released Tuesday a full-page ad in several Indian newspapers, providing "easy tips to help you decide if something is sent to you on WhatsApp is true."
The announcement informed users that the company was rolling out a feature that identifies forwarded messages. "The question information that bothers you" and "be thinking about what you share", he read. He also warned about how false news often becomes viral: "Just because a message is shared many times, does not make it true."
WhatsApp was asked to withdraw the announcement by an incident on July 1 in a remote village in the state of Maharashtra, in the west of the country, where five people were killed by a crowd suspected of being part of a kidnapping gang. This follows several cases of "suspect" people beaten, in some cases to death, across the country in the past two months.
The violence, which has killed nearly 20 people since May according to local media, has been fueled by fake videos and messages on social networks warning people to be wary of foreigners who may be members of trafficking networks of children or organ harvesting, despite calls from authorities for people not to believe in rumors
A statement from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technologies on July 3 blamed incidents on "a large number of irresponsible and explosive messages filled with rumors and provocation [which] are circulating on WhatsApp."
was ordered to contain the spread of these messages immediately by the application of appropriate technology, stating that the platform can not escape responsibility and responsibility.
India is the largest user base of WhatsApp. The country has 300 million smartphone users, of whom about 200 million use the service. Many people transmit messages without knowing the identity of the sender. Sensitive or sensational messages often become viral and can lead to violent incidents.
"The government has also expressed in clear terms that WhatsApp must take immediate steps to put an end to this threat and ensure that their platform is not used for such evil activities." Ravi Shankar Prasad , the Minister of Computing and Justice, said that WhatsApp needed to recognize that India represented a huge market and that it was drawing "money" from its operations in the country
. "Their operations in India must work closely with my department, the Ministry of the Interior and the State Police apparatus," he said. said, adding that WhatsApp had the obligation to take the issue of fake posts seriously.The protesters in the state of Assam seek justice for two men who were killed by crowds after rumors have been circulating linking them to the kidnapping gangs.
© AP
