WhatsApp is under a lot of pressure in India. Ever since last year when the rampant spread of fake news lead to a spree of lynchings across the country, the Indian authorities have been asking the Facebook-owned social media app to introduce a feature that would enable the authorities to trace the origin of a message spreading misinformation. The company, however, has refused to oblige the Indian governments requests. And now, ahead of the election season, when the debate regarding the spread of fake news via WhatsApp's network has stirred up again, the company said that it will not introduce such a feature on its platform ever.
The popular social messaging app recently conducted a media workshop in India, wherein the company categorically stated that it won't trace the origin of a message as it would require the company to redesign its platform.
For those of you, who aren't sure, WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption to its users, which means that no one, not even the company can trace or know the contents of a conversation other than the sender and the receiver. Speaking at the workshop, the company said that introducing a feature that would enable tracing the origin of a message would require the company to entirely redesign its product in a way that it wouldn't be private.
"Imagine if every message you sent was kept with a record of the fact that you sent it and with a record of your phone number. That would not be a place for private communications," a WhatsApp spokesperson said on the occasion, as reported by IANS.
The company said that it is removing over two million accounts per month for bulk or automated behaviour. "These efforts are particularly important during elections where certain groups may attempt to send messages at scale," the company said.
Apart from removing accounts with automated behaviour and introducing features that limit the sharing of forwarded messages, the company has also launched the second phase of 'Share Joy, Not Rumors' campaign in India.
While in the first phase of the campaign, which was launched last year to educate users to spot fake news, the second phase of the campaign, which was launched in India recently aims to educate users on ways to use the platform responsibly.
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