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NEW DELHI – The Government of India lashed out
Facebook
Inc.
WhatsApp following a series of deadly attacks on victims wrongfully accused of kidnapping children, after rumors and false reports on traffic activity broadcast on the courier platform
There WhatsApp warned in Menlo Park, Calif., of rumors and false information about the courier platform in India and ordered its management to take immediate action. The statement did not specify the type of action, but indicated that "the spread of such messages should be immediately contained by the application of appropriate technologies".
Up to two dozen people have died since May or fake messages broadcast on WhatsApp, according to local media reports. "Cases of lynchings of innocent people have been reported recently because of a large number of irresponsible and explosive messages filled with rumors and provocations broadcast on WhatsApp," the ministry said in the statement. "A deep disapproval of these developments has been passed on to the WhatsApp management."
In a letter to the WhatsApp Department, the company stated that she was "horrified by these terrible acts of violence." The letter was signed by
The owner of WhatsApp, Facebook, and social media companies are grappling with a drastic change in public perception about them. Although platforms are still very popular, there is growing concern about how they are abused by bad actors and sometimes undermine public discourse, as well as how they deal with life. private users.
the fallout caused by the spread of misinformation about social applications of Facebook. In the United States, lawmakers urge Facebook to address false news on its platform before the mid-term elections to the United States in November. Facebook said it was working with third-party fact checkers in the 50 US states to find fake news and label them as false information.
WhatsApp told the Indian government that he was using a dual strategy to give people the controls "
The letter describes the steps that the company has taken to promote digital literacy among new users on the networks and the importance of fact-checking. WhatsApp "would work with academic experts in India to find out more about the spread of misinformation."
The government's reprimand of the popular courier service followed Sunday the killing of five men in the Dhule district in the western Indian state. Maharashtra by villagers who, according to local police, acted on the messages they received via WhatsApp on their smartphones.
"People were getting messages on WhatsApp for the last two months warning them that there were strangers who were walking around kidnapping children," said Manoharan Ramkumar, Dhule District Police Superintendent. "When they saw these men, who went from house to house seeking alms, the villagers became suspicious and attacked them."
With over 200 million active users a month, India is one of the largest markets of WhatsApp. online for the first time. The rapidly declining cost of smartphones and mobile data has contributed to the spread of the courier service in the world's second most populous nation. It has become an entry point to the Internet and social media for many people in poor and remote areas who use it not only for communication but also as a source of news and information.
Most incidents of recent violence occurred in rural areas, where users received unverified messages warning foreigners suspected of being kidnappers, thieves or cow killers, who are considered to be sacred in the Hindu religion.
Indian Authorities Say Encryption and User Protection on WhatsApp Highlighting the scale of the problem, the Indian government said Tuesday in its statement that "deeply painful and regrettable" crowd kills triggered by the messages WhatsApp were held in states such as West Bengal, Assam. and Tripura in eastern and northeastern India, Maharashtra in the west and Karnataka in the south.
Write to Krishna Pokharel at [email protected] and Rajesh Roy at [email protected]
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