WhatsApp testing new feature in India to curb fake news

New Delhi: Facebook Inc.’s WhatsApp messaging service on Wednesday outlined steps, including a change that would clearly mark forwarded messages, to curb the spread of rumours on its platform.

It was responding to an Indian government call to help end a spate of deadly lynchings.

“Like the government of India, we’re horrified by these terrible acts of violence and wanted to respond quickly to the very important issues you have raised. We believe this is a challenge that requires government, civil society and technology companies to work together,” WhatsApp said in its letter to the information technology ministry, a copy of which was reviewed by Mint.

On Monday, the ministry wrote to WhatsApp to take appropriate measures to curtail the spread of fake news and provocative messages on its platform following a spate of murders in the country over the last month connected to fake messages on social media, which have mainly spread through WhatsApp.

These incidents have been reported from several states including Assam, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tripura and West Bengal.

WhatsApp said that it plans to launch a new feature that would act as a content filter for messages sent on groups.

“We have been testing a new label in India that highlights when a message has been forwarded versus one that is composed by the sender. This could serve as an important signal for recipients to think twice before forwarding messages because it lets a user know if content they received was written by the person they know or a potential rumour from someone else,” WhatsApp said in the letter.

WhatsApp also agreed to respond to “valid law enforcement requests” to help investigate crimes.

The company said it can’t see the content carried in conversations on the app as these messages are encrypted.

“Because we cannot see the content of messages being sent over WhatsApp, we block messages based on user reports and by the manner in which they are sent. We use machine learning to identify accounts sending a high volume of messages (faster than any human could) and we are constantly working to improve our ability to stop unwanted automated messages,” it said.

Last month, the ministry raised concerns related to the rollout of WhatsApp’s payment service in India, seeking clarity on whether the new UPI-based service conforms to the security and privacy rules of the Reserve Bank of India.

As of February 2017, there were more than 200 million monthly active WhatsApp users in India. More than 1.5 billion people across the world use the messaging app.