‘It does not need rocket science to locate a message’, Ravi Shankar Prasad on WhatsApp fake message row

India has been trying to curb fake news for a few months now, as it has taken an ugly turn. The country had witnessed several mob lynching incidents and saw people being dragged and beaten to death. The central government has taken a stand against such incidents and have condemned them on every possible platform.

WhatsApp a leading social media messaging app which is now owned by Facebook as assured the Indian govt on Tuesday that it would develop tools to combat the problem of fake messages, Information Technology  Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad minister said.

Chris Daniels, WhatsApp Chief Executive Officer met Prasad on Tuesday, assuring the government of a solution.
Prasad told reporters he had asked WhatsApp to develop a detailed mechanism to trace the origin of any such ‘sinister’ messages.

“It does not need rocket science to locate a message,” Prasad said after his meeting, adding that WhatsApp had said it was working with law enforcement agencies to develop its systems.

For WhatsApp, India is the biggest market with more than 200 million users, according to research; people forward more messages, photographs and videos in India than in any other country.

Political parties using WhatsApp to influence the 2019 national elections is also a big concern. Due to the pressure of the Central government to stem the platform’s misuse, WhatsApp has taken several steps to tackle the problems.

According to an official statement by WhatsApp in July, said that the message forwards will be limited to five chats at a time, whether among individuals or groups and said it will remove the quick forward button placed next to media messages.

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