After lynching spree in India, WhatsApp offers tips to spot fake news

Agencies
July 10, 2018

New Delhi, Jul 10: WhatsApp took out full-page advertisements in Indian newspapers on Tuesday offering "easy tips" to identify fact from fiction after a slew of recent murders spurred by hoaxes shared on its platform.

The Facebook-owned messaging service has been under immense pressure to curb the spread of misinformation in India after the lynching of more than 20 people accused of child abduction in the last two months.

Most recently a mob surrounded and killed five men in Maharashtra state denounced as child kidnappers, a pernicious rumour blamed for similar murders in at least 11 Indian states.

WhatsApp said it was "horrified" by the violence and promised swift action but Indian authorities have accused the social media giant of acting irresponsibly in its largest market.

The slick adverts in leading English and Hindi language newspapers, entitled "together we can fight false information", listed 10 tips for users seeking to sort truth from rumour.

"Do not pay attention to the number of times you receive the message. Just because a message is shared many times, does not make it true," offer one of the tidbits of advice.

It also suggested users cross-check information against reputable news sources and not share the messages further if they doubt their authenticity.

WhatsApp will soon launch a new feature on its platform in India that will clearly identify whether a message has been forwarded or written by the user.

Indian officials said the company could not "evade accountability and responsibility".

WhatsApp has said it can block spam but cannot read the content of messages for privacy reasons, including potentially problematic content spreading in user chats.

Rumours on WhatsApp about child kidnappers saw eight men killed in eastern Indian last year but the same information has since resurfaced.

Spam messages warning parents about child kidnapping gangs have sprung up in multiple regional languages in India in recent months, sometimes accompanied by gruesome videos of child abuse.

Police in several states have denied the existence of such criminal groups.

India is WhatsApp's largest market, with an estimated 200 million users sending a billion encrypted messages each day.

Comments

Suresh
 - 
Tuesday, 10 Jul 2018

People + GOvt + Whatsapp initiative must for controling fake news

Farooq
 - 
Tuesday, 10 Jul 2018

How whatsapp and govt can control such fake news..! continously monitoring personal data+messages..? 

Kumar
 - 
Tuesday, 10 Jul 2018

If people dont want to share such things, they wouldnt do before also. People want to make controversies and issues. So they are sharing. Legal action should take

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News Network
July 1,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 1: Faced with increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the State Capital, Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Justice A S Okha has decided the Court to function online.

Registrar General Rajendra Badamikar, in the notice issued here on Wednesday, based on order of the Chief Justice, stated that the emergency cases will be conducted through video conference until the next order.

The order also specifies that only the principal seat (Bengaluru) will be conducting proceedings online. High Court benches at Dharwad and Kalaburagi will continue to function as usual.

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News Network
January 22,2020

Kochi, Jan 22: Rail passengers from Kerala are a happy lot as the state’s traditional food items such as appam and eggcurry, puttu and kadala curry have found their way back to the revised menu of the Railways in the wake of protests over reports that they were replaced by north indian delicacies.

The popular Kerala dishes were reinstated to the list following social media backlash over the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation’s reported decision to replace the favorite cuisine of Malayalis from its menu with north Indian dishes such as Kachori and Chole Bhature.

Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden, who had shot off a letter to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal raising the issue of alleged discrimination against Keralites, got an assurance from the IRCTC officials that popular items, including snacks such as unniyappam and sukhiyan will be served through its outlets in the state.

Eden said the IRCTC officials who visited him at his home on Wednesday morning have presented him with the list of delicacies to be served by its local vendors in Kerala. In his letter to the minister, the MP had stated that dishes which are very important to Malayalis for breakfast such as appam, egg curry, porotta, dosa, steam cake (puttu) were excluded along with snacks such as banana fry (pazham pori), kozhukkatta, unniyappam, neyyappam and sukhiyan.  He had also raised the issue of hike in price of food items.

According to him, price of meals has been increased from RS 35 to 70 and that ofsnacks such as vada from Rs 8 to 15.  While the price of vada has not been reduced, the fare of snack meal like parotta, chappathi, idiyappam, appam and puttu with kadala curry or egg curry will be served at Rs 50.  According to IRCTC, a passenger will have to shell out Rs 20 for unniyappam/sukhiyan/neyyappam, 2 numbers each.  Informing Goyal of the changes in menu, he said Malayalis are discriminated in trains and railway refreshment rooms by the food which is the right of every passenger.

He had sought urgent intervention of the Minister and speedy action in the matter.

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News Network
April 13,2020

Kundapur, Apr 13: The city police, burdened with the enforcement of COVID-19 lockdown decided to undertake door delivery of essential items to ensure people remained indoor, official sources said here on Monday.

According to them, the police would be delivering items to the houses in Kumdapur, Byndoor, Gongolli, Shankara Narayana, Kundapur Rural, Kota and Amavasebail.

The police will start spreading awareness with this regard for three days starting from today (April 13).

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