There is an increasing proof that what we share information online ends up causing a huge upset to people in real life, especially in Whatsapp. The social media application came under fire recently when 5 people were lynched to death over Whatsapp-based rumours. So far, at least 23 people have been lynched or attacked recently in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Tripura.
WhatsApp is launching a test to restrict as many as forwarding messages which will now apply to all users, the app said. Mob lynchings was triggered by false or fake messages in India and WhatsApp authorities called for steps to prevent the spread of false texts and sexual content. In India, WhatsApp said it will test a lower limit of five chats (individual or group chats) at a time and will eliminate the quick forward button next to media messages.
Earlier this month, WhatsApp in reply to a call from the Ministry of Information Technology, said it needed a partnership with the government as well as society to stop the circulation of fake messages. WhatsApp last week published ads in Indian newspapers to counter the spread of fake messages.
In an attempt to bring all these things to a close, Whatsapp has announced that it will offer a whopping $50,000 (34,42,250.00 Indian Rupee) to those who can extend their support to the social media giant to counter fake news circulation in the wake of mob killing.
The Facebook-owned social media platform has been under immense pressure from the Indian government in the wake of mob lynchings owing to the spread of false news. WhatsApp had recently announced that they added a new feature which will allow the admins of WhatsApp groups to control who can post. It is learnt that it is testing a feature that would label “forwards.”
The biggest mistake people make in today’s world is forwarding the message to others without even knowing whether the source is genuine or fake. First of all, one needs to trust the source from where they are getting information. According to a survey, more than 20 crore people are on Whatsapp, which literally means that 1 person out of every person is using Whatsapp application.
