The Govt Threatens Legal Action Against WhatsApp & Social Media Apps That Don't Curb Fake News

WhatsApp has been in a bit of hot water with the Indian government lately, after a spate of violence triggered by hoaxes and rumours spreading on the app.

Now, the government has said it plans to go a step further against social media apps not toeing the line.

The IT ministry has demanded that social media apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter take steps to curb the spread of hate speech and misinformation on their platforms. It¡¯s made other demands also, like allowing law enforcement the ability to track the origin of a message. WhatsApp has agreed to most of the ministry¡¯s demands, but refuses to budge on its encryption, saying that compromising it to allow tracking messages is a no go.

Now, the Centre seems to be ready to take legal action against the India heads of social media platforms if they fail to curb the issue at hand.

The announcement was made by a government official on Wednesday, seemingly as a warning directed towards WhatsApp in particular, though other social platforms are included as well.

"There are country representatives of all global social media platforms in India. Action may be initiated against them if they do not comply to remove objectionable contents and video from their sites," they said.

In addition, the Centre has also asked that WhatsApp appoint a grievance officer, saying it can¡¯t ignore its responsibilities as far as the effects of messages on its platform go.

The government has also directed that officers need to be appointed in each district, at the level of Superintendent of Police. They will head a special task force to closely monitor social media contents in order to avoid mob violence in the future.