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.

The kidnapped schoolboy was rescued by the police and reunited with his parents. Son of a gift shop owner from Basavanagudi area in Bengaluru, Chirag has reportedly told police that decided to make some quick money to spend on cricket betting and gambling after learning kidnap tricks from the ‘Crime Patrol’. According to police, Chirag reached a private school around 3pm on Tuesday on a Bounce rental bike and zeroed in on a fourth standard student who was walking out of school. He told the boy he was his father's friend and that he required help to search for a relative who had gone missing. The boy believed Chirag and rode pillion on the bike. Chirag then engaged the boy in conversation and learnt about his father's business and got his mobile phone number. He then made a call to the boy's father, demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him against approaching cops. However, the boy's father alerted Cottonpet police and special teams were formed to crack the case. While Cottonpet inspector Venkatesh TC's squad verified CCTV footage in and around the school, Chamarajpet inspector BG Kumaraswamy's team started tracking the suspect's mobile phone movements. An hour later, the suspect's location was traced to a hotel on the Lavelle Road-St Mark's Road stretch. Police rushed there, rescued the boy and arrested Chirag.
Comments
People + GOvt + Whatsapp initiative must for controling fake news
How whatsapp and govt can control such fake news..! continously monitoring personal data+messages..?
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
Add new comment