Horrified by terrible acts of violence, WhatsApp tells IT ministry

Vadi community stages a protest against the lynching of a woman in Ahmedabad, on July 2. Pic/PTI

Taking cognisance of the Indian government's concerns over the misuse of its platform for repeated circulation of provocative content, Facebook-owned WhatsApp on Wednesday wrote to the IT Ministry, saying the company is horrified by terrible acts of violence.

The IT Ministry on Tuesday asked WhatsApp to take immediate action and ensure that the platform is not used for such malafide activities over the growing instances of lynching of innocent people owing to large number of irresponsible messages filled with rumours and provocation circulated on the mobile messaging platform.

"Thank you for your letter dated July 2. 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 the reply to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). WhatsApp, which has over 200 million monthly active users in India, listed several measures it is taking or has already put in action to control the spread of misinformation and abuse on its platform.

"We have been testing a new label in India that highlights when a message has been forwarded versus composed by the sender." the company informed.

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