India’s Top Court Slams Whatsapp For Not Appointing Grievance Officer

Following a surge in fake news and mob lynchings in India, the apex court of India slammed Whatsapp on Monday. The Supreme Court of India asked Whatsapp as to why it has not yet appointed a grievance officer off India. The court issued notices to Whatsapp and the Indian ministry for IT and also the ministry of Finance seeking a reply to the same within four weeks.

The Indian government and the judiciary have taken a serious cognisance of the rising violence in India triggered out of WhatsApp rumours. In recent times WhatsApp has been summoned time and again and has been strictly asked to align with the policies of the Indian government.

Last week the IT ministry had asked the Facebook-owned subsidiary to appoint a grievance officer with immediate effect. This narrative was given out to the social media app to check the growing spread of fake news in India because of which riots like situations have emerged at times. Several rounds of negotiations and deliberations have been held between Whatsapp owners and the Indian government to tweak things for a better social balance.

Trace The Origin Of Hate Messages: Indian Government

In many states, the rumours radiating on Whatsapp triggered situation of mob lynching following which the apex court had to step in. Earlier the Supreme Court of India had also asked the Indian government to make a separate law for mob lynchings.

The Indian government had also issued directions to Whatsapp to use technologies which can track the origin of the fake messages triggering disturbances. Whatsapp has reportedly agreed to all the demands made by the Indian government sans the one which asked the company to trace the origin of messages. Since WhatsApp is encrypted end to end, it told the government that it has no access to the user data.

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