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IT Minister of India tells WhatsApp CEO to set up local entity to curb fake news

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WhatsApp CEO Chris Daniels, in a meeting with Minister of Law and Justice and Electronics & IT of India Ravi Shankar Prasad was told by the latter that  the government of India ‘will not appreciate a scenario where any problem that has risen in India is answered to only in the U.S’. Daniels is said to meet business and government officials in his brief visit to the country.

The government has also issued a notice to the Facebook owned company that has responded by outlining initiatives being taken to curb fake news circulation including education and advocacy efforts. However, it said that the measures did not meet the government’s expectations on ‘traceability’ and attribution of such messages.

In the meeting, Prasad told Daniels to implement three measures. “You must have a grievance system in India and a whole system where people can reach you immediately. Secondly, you must have proper compliance with Indian laws. We will not appreciate a scenario where any problem that has risen is answered to only in America. Thirdly, WhatsApp having become an important component of India’s digital story must have a proper corporate entity located in India. He assured that the company will soon follow these. He said that we are working with law enforcement agencies to develop a system,” he said.

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He added that WhatsApp told the government that the company was engaging with law enforcement agencies to develop systems to counter spreading of fake news. “I complimented him for the extraordinary technological awakening that WhatsApp has led in the entire country for education, healthcare, information about agriculture and farming. These are very positive developments. There also certain sinister developments which are provoking crimes such as mob lynching, like revenge porn and you must find solutions for these challenges that are downright criminal,” Prasad added.

WhatsApp has officially rolled out the new app update which will allow forwarded messages to be sent to only five chats. Globally, the limit of forwarding messages will be upto 20 chats.

According to news agency IANSWhatsApp confirmed that it has begun rolling out its forward message limit in India, which is its biggest market at 200 million users.

Earlier, in a letter to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY), Whatsapp stated that it was horrified by the reports of violence in the country and announced new steps to curb the spread of misinformation. This comes after reports of fake news of kidnapped and missing children being circulated in the app lead to mob violence and lynching reports across the country.

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