HIGHLIGHTS
- WhatsApp was pushed in troubled waters last year for serving as a channel for spreading fake news.
- You can now file a complaint with the DoT against offensive messages received on WhatsApp.
- The move comes following many public figures, including journalists, complaining of receiving abusive and threatening messages.
Everything comes with a price including popularity. WhatsApp serves as the country's most widely used chat app but the app also has to fight its battle against fake news and harassing messages almost every day. The simplistic design and the convenience of sending messages has made WhatsApp an easy target for anyone to spread fake messages and create havoc among public. But this is going to end now as the chat company has joined hands with the Department of Telecom(DoT) to help report about those who sent fake or abusive messages.
WhatsApp was pushed in troubled waters last year for serving as a channel for spreading fake news that triggered several incidents of mob lynchings in various parts of the country. The chat company since then has been taking several steps to fight against this problem. There is also another problem of some people sending abusive or harassing messages on WhatsApp and now the company plans to take on this.
According to a PTI report, you can now file a complaint with the DoT against offensive messages received on WhatsApp. To report, the receiver of abusive message should take a screenshot of the message along with the mobile number and mail it to ccaddn-dot@nic.in. The move comes following many public figures, including journalists, complaining of receiving abusive and threatening messages.
"We will take it up with the telecom operators and police heads for necessary action," DoT Controller Communications Ashish Joshi said in a tweet.
Joshi also tweeted a complete list of all the Licensed Service Area (LSA) saying that there is a lack of awareness about the LSA units among public. The list includes names of LSA, respective headquarter, name of the officer, office address, his fax, landline and email address.
"Telecom customers receiving abusive/ offensive WhatsApp messages could email directly to the LSA units of their states." These LSA units are spread across India. Our LSA units are spread across India provide the technical input. These units are responsible for conducting investigation on lack of telecom operators and the interaction on social media.
WhatsApp has taken several other steps to fight the problem of fake news on its platform. The company released the forward label feature last year to let you know if the message has been forwarded. Also there is now a limit on the number of people you select at once to forward a message. It has also appointed a new grievance officer for India who can be contacted for complaints or concerns related to WhatsApp's terms of service and questions about your account.
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