On fix fake text messages in WhatsApp, India has directed messaging platform WhatsApp to comply with local laws and establish a corporate entity in the country in an unequivocal message delivered to the American company’s chief executive on Tuesday.
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also sought the appointment of a grievance officer in India and development of technology solutions to combat the spread of violent or fake messages on the platform owned by social network Facebook.
“The company (WhatsApp) needs to find solutions to deal with sinister developments like mob-lynching and revenge porn and has to follow Indian law,” Prasad, the union minister for electronics and IT, told reporters on Tuesday.
Referring to large-scale incidents of violence in recent weeks triggered by the circulation of fake messages on the messaging platform, Prasad cautioned that “WhatsApp could face abetment charges if they do not follow Indian law”.
Briefing reporters after his meeting with WhatsApp CEO Chris Daniels in New Delhi, Prasad reiterated his earlier stance that “it does not take rocket science to locate a message being circulated in hundreds and thousands… (WhatsApp) must have a mechanism to find a solution.”
He also informed company officials that in order to launch a digital payment service in India, the American app will be required to store customer data within the country.
Daniels, who is on a five-day tour of India, did not offer any comment on his discussions with the minister.
India has among the largest user base globally for WhatsApp with 220 million people accessing the platform on their smartphones. The messaging platform has run into trouble in other parts of the world as well over messages being circulated on its platform. Earlier this year, Sri Lanka had temporarily banned social media networks including Facebook and WhatsApp to prevent the spread of communal violence.
In 2016, a senior executive of Facebook Inc was arrested in Brazil over a court’s demand that the company provide data from its WhatsApp messaging service to help in a drugtrafficking investigation.
In India, legal experts are of the view that setting up a local entity and finding technological solutions to trace the origin of fake messages, are mutually exclusive.
“Setting up a local entity is a step towards enabling the Indian government (and regulators) to have a domestic entity within the immediate reach of Indian Law. This obviates the need for lengthy and expensive extra territorial proceedings,” said Kartik Ganapathy a partner at legal firm IndusLaw.
“The technology for identifying the source of fake messages may take longer to develop, and will likely involve the expenditure of resources,” he added.
It is unclear if WhatsApp has given any conclusive response to the government’s demand of ensuring traceability of messages on its platform which is end-to-end encrypted and whether it has agreed to store data locally.
The American firm has been in talks with the Indian government after the ministry of electronics and IT sent notices to the company in July.
While the company has taken a series of measures such as restricting the number of forwards at one go and labeling such content which is not original as forward, it has not been able to allay the concerns within official circles that are seeking “technological solutions” to ensure traceability of messages being circulated in bulk.
The company has also come under fire for incidents of mob lynching being sparked through fake messages on its platform across the country.
Minister Prasad said that WhatsApp has agreed to set up a corporate entity in India, appoint a grievance officer in the country as well as follow the local laws of the land. A spokesperson for WhatsApp declined to comment on Tuesday’s notice by the government.
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However, it resent an earlier statement which said that people rely on WhatsApp for all kinds of sensitive conversations, including with their doctors, banks and families.
“The police also use WhatsApp to discuss investigations and report crimes. Attributing messages on WhatsApp would undermine endto-end encryption and the private nature of WhatsApp creating the potential for serious misuse. Our focus is on improving WhatsApp and working closer with others in society to help keep people safe,” the statement said.
ET had reported that the government plans to come up with guidelines that will direct internet firms to respond to complaints on their respective platforms within a few hours — from the existing 36 hours — and also appoint a grievance officer stationed in India. During an earlier meeting between the IT ministry and WhatsApp COO, Matt Idema, the government had conveyed to WhatsApp that it cannot start offering its payment service to over 200 million Indians without having a physical presence through an office or team here.
Daniels, who was brought in as CEO of WhatsApp in May after its founder quit, previously led internet.org, the Facebook service — aimed at allowing its internet partners give faster access to the app — that was rejected in India for violating net neutrality.
