WhatsApp CEO on India visit this week amid fake news row
CEO of WhatsApp Chris Daniels is
visiting India this week and is likely to meet IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad
as the company attempts to address concerns around fake news, on its messaging
platform which have to horrific crimes. According to sources, Chris Daniels
will be in India for 4-5 days, starting tomorrow and meet business and
government officials during his visit.
He is also likely to meet IT Minister
tomorrow, although this could not be independently confirmed with the company.
Emails sent to WhatsApp didn’t elicit any response. One of the persons aware of
the proposed visit said that WhatsApp officials plan to discuss measure being
undertaken to the issue of fake news on its platform for the reason that the impending launch of its
payments services in the country.
Government officials, who confirmed
that a meeting has indeed been sought - said the ministry, on its part, will
reiterate its demand of WhatsApp establishing a setup in India, and also
addressing the issue of traceability of messages. Last month WhatsApp top
executives COO Matthew Idema had met IT Secretary and other Indian government
officials to outline various steps being taken by the company to tackle fake
news in India.
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The IT ministry Ravi Shankar Prasad
has, in the past, said that the platform cannot escape its responsibility for
such rampant abuse and needed to find originators of provocative messages.
It had also warned that in the absence
of adequate checks, it will treat the messaging platform as abettor of rumor
propagation and legal consequences will follow. In its response WhatsApp has
informed the government that it is building a local team, including India head
as part of steps to check fake news circulation even it didn’t meet the key
demand of identifying message originator.
Apart from education and advocacy programmers, WhatsApp has also introduced new features to let its users identify forwarded messages, restricted number of forwards at a time, and brought out full-page ads giving “easy tips” to spot fake news.