Why it is difficult to control spread of fake news on WhatsApp
Lynching
At least 20 people have been killed in mostly rural villages across India in lynchings instigated by false information distributed on WhatsApp.
The Indian government has asked the messaging platform WhatsApp to curtail the spread of fake news.
The IT ministry has said that WhatsApp cannot evade responsibility when instances of lynching are on the rise.
At least 20 people have been killed in mostly rural villages across India in lynchings instigated by false information distributed on WhatsApp.
The company has been asked to take immediate action to curb fake news on its platform.
Facebook-owned WhatsApp in its response wrote a letter to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said that it was "horrified" at the lynchings.
It further added that they have been testing ways to curb the problem of fake news.
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But the question here is, can it actually be done?
Let’s understand this step by step
End-to-end encryption
It is difficult to crack down on false messages on WhatsApp.Like Facebook, there is no way to flag an inappropriate or false message on WhatsApp.
Because the messages on WhatsApp can only be read by the sender and the receiver.Which means there is no way for WhatsApp to monitor what is being shared on the communication platform.
WhatsApp end-to-end encryption ensures only you and the person you're communicating with can read what's sent, and nobody in between, not even WhatsApp.
And if they start to track your messages, this would mean compromising on the privacy that WhatsApp offers at the moment? And the question is are we ready to accept that? Perhaps, no.
Whatsapp adds a new feature
The company has introduced a new feature to clam down on the fake news in WhatsApp groups. The new WhatsApp group setting allows only admins to send messages to a group.
Users can then open a group chat and tap on “Group Info,” tap Group Settings and find the "Send Messages" option and then select “Only Admins.”
This will allow only group admins to converse while other participants will receive a footer which reads that the admin has disabled others from conversing in the group. The feature is, however, for the time being, limited to only one option so the admin still cannot block individual rights of a particular person to send messages.
It promises a little better system to cut down on the spread of fake news in groups, but it’s not foolproof.
Fact checking and legal help
The company recently partnered with a fact-checking organisation, to help combat rumours on its platform.
It also plans to start a program to engage directly with Indian law enforcement officials.