WhatsApp vice-president Chris Daniels on Wednesday said the company is focussed on values like security and privacy to ensure that its product remains a utility that helps users communicate in everyday life.
The Facebook-owned company, which has been asked by the Indian government to put in place a mechanism to clamp down fake messages on its platform. Out of WhatsApp user base of 1.3 billion people, more than 200 million people are in India – the single largest market for the popular messaging platform.
The government has been pushing WhatsApp to find a technology solution to trace the origin of ‘sinister’ messages, a move that it believes can help curb horrific crimes like mob-lynching emanating from fake news.
WhatsApp, however, had rejected India's demand for a solution to track the origin of messages on its platform, saying building traceability will undermine end-to-end encryption and affect privacy protection for users.
Emphasising that people use its platform for all kinds of "sensitive conversations", the US-based firm had said it is focusing on educating people about misinformation.
After meeting WhatsApp vice-president Chris Daniels, India’s IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that he emphasized that traceability did not include decrypting of messages. "We insist rather on location and identification of the sender of WhatsApp messages when such messages lead to provocation of violence, heinous offences and other serious crimes," he said.
Prasad added that he was assured by the WhatsApp team that they will look into the matter and revert. The Facebook-owned company has been under pressure for months to put in place a mechanism to curb fake messages on its platform.
The minister also said that Whatsapp was an important instrument of message circulation, especially during elections.
WhatsApp has started multiple initiatives in the country to thwart the danger of misinformation sent through its platform. It believes that educating users could go a long way in resolving this major issue. One of them is with Reliance Jio.
WhatsApp and Jio will travel across India together in vans and visit 10 cities in the states of UP, Rajasthan, and more. As a part of the campaign, there will be events at each city to show people how to use WhatsApp safely and responsibly. The collaboration also includes street plays, the popular art form of outreach, to engage people and guide them on the meaningful and responsible ways to use WhatsApp.
There are over 50 million users on JioPhone from Reliance that supports WhatsApp natively and reaching out to them is another major task for the Facebook-owned messaging app.
(with inputs from PTI)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)