New Delhi:In a stern message to WhatsApp, the government on Tuesday said the messaging platform will need to set up a local entity and find a tech solution to trace the origin of fake messages on its platform.
After a meeting with WhatsApp chief executive officer Chris Daniels, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Facebook-owned messaging app has contributed significantly to India’s digital story, but needs to find solutions to deal with “sinister developments” such as mob lynching and revenge porn.
“I had a productive meeting with Chris Daniels, the CEO of WhatsApp. I complimented him for the awakening, which WhatsApp has led in the entire country… But there are also sinister developments like mob lynching and revenge porn. You must find solutions to these challenges, which are downright criminal and violate Indian laws,” he said.
Prasad said he asked WhatsApp to set up a corporate entity in India, appoint a grievance officer and find a technical solution to trace the origin of fake messages on its platform. “… I flagged in particular, which I had said earlier also, it does not take rocket science to locate a message being circulated in hundreds and thousands… you must have a mechanism to find a solution.”
WhatsApp could face abetment charges if no action was taken, he added.
The Facebook-owned company was working towards addressing these issues, he said.
WhatsApp has already received two notices from the government to check the spread of fake news, which, in many cases, has led to mob lynchings. The IT ministry had earlier said that WhatsApp cannot escape its responsibility for such rampant abuse of its platform. Recently, the IT ministry also raised concerns related to the roll out of the WhatsApp Payments in India seeking clarity on whether the new UPI-based service conforms to the Reserve Bank of India’s security and privacy rules.
As of February 2017, there were more than 200 million monthly active WhatsApp users in India. There are more than 1.5 billion users across the world.