After government stringent diktat for controlling fake news, by all means, Facebook-owned instant messaging app WhatsApp is rolling out awareness campaign against fake news over radio channels across the country.
Starting from today, the radio campaign will air across 46 Hindi speaking stations of All India Radio (AIR) across Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Apart from Hindi, WhatsApp will also target regional language speaking population with similar campaign via government-run radio channels in the next few weeks.
Through this campaign, WhatsApp will advise its users to verify the authenticity of messages before forwarding them.
Now, these campaigns advise users to verify the authenticity of messages before forwarding them and to report content that they might find to be inflammatory, reports Business Standard.
Meanwhile, WhatsApp has already put a cap on the number of forwarding messages with a label of ‘forward’ to curb misinformative, defamatory and malicious content via the chat platform.
To recall, the UPI-bound messaging app had also tapped national newspapers and local dailies to create awareness amongst citizens via ad campaigns.
Earlier, WhatsApp had promised to bring a fake news verification model Verificado in India. The model was used in Mexico Presidential election, where users attempt to spread rumours were foiled.
The recent development comes after the government’s recent talks with WhatsApp CEO, who was on a five-day tour to India. While WhatsApp has accepted all terms and condition proposed by the government, traceability of end-to-end encrypted messages still a matter of concern for both parties.
Besides, the Supreme Court had also issued a notice to WhatsApp and the Indian government asking them why the messaging app has not appointed grievance officer in India.
