Social sites should be accountable, responsible for any misconduct: Prasad

The government has demanded greater accountability from social networking apps/ sites such as WhatsApp and Facebook, stating that the companies have come here to do business so they have to be responsible too.

“My plain and simple suggestion to WhatsApp is that it doesn’t need a rocket science in an event where bulk SMSes are sent on a particular day, on a particular issue, in a particular area of a particular State,” Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Electronics and IT, and Law & Justice said on the sidelines of an event.

He said WhatsApp is a technology giant so they must have the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning to examine the messages – like the point of origin, who is sending and who all are reading them.

Prasad said social media companies that are reaping commercial gains from India’s market have to remain accountable and vigilant to prevent abuse of their platforms for spread of dangerous and provocative messages.

However, to what extent the government will charge penalty or take any action against the culprits or companies, Prasad declined to comment.

Warnng to WhatsApp

The government sent a warning letter to WhatsApp on Tuesday stating instances of lynching of innocent people have been noticed recently ‘because of large number of irresponsible and explosive messages filled with rumours and provocation are being circulated on WhatsApp’. “The unfortunate killing in many States such as Assam, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tripura and west Bengals are deeply painful and regrettable,” the government had said.

WhatsApp responds

WhatsApp has responded to the mail on Wednesday stating that “We believe that false news, misinformation and the spread of hoaxes are issues best tackled collectively: by government, civil society and technology companies working together.”

It expressed confidence that with the right action, “we can help improve everyone’s safety by ensuring communities are better equipped to deal with malicious hoaxes and false information — while still enabling people to communicate reliably and privately across India.”

With India being its biggest market with over 200 million users, the Facebook-owned messenger service asserted that it responds to ‘valid’ law enforcement requests in investigating crimes.

WhatsApp said it is “horrified by these terrible acts of violence” and its strategy to deal with the situation involves giving people the controls and information they need to stay safe while working proactively to prevent misuse of the service. Without specifying whether it will stop services of any person found to be spreading fake news, the company said it has made changes on group chats to prevent the spread of unwanted information.

It has also introduced features that prevent users from re-adding former members and enabling group administrators to decide who can send messages. It is also testing labelling of forwarded messages. WhatsApp also said it is willing to share further information on its actions if the government so wanted.

Pact with HDFC Bank

Meanwhile, MeitY has entered into agreement with HDFC Bank to enable its three lakh Village Level Entrepreneurs managing the Common Services Centres (CSCs) operate as Banking Correspondents of HDFC Bank.

The HDFC Banking Correspondents under this arrangement will also function as Business Facilitator. This is a unique facility being extended through CSC by HDFC. This will help and support the citizens, especially merchants, youth, entrepreneurs, farmers and women avail loan facility from the Bank to support in their economic uplift.

Apart from this, HDFC Bank will support CSC in converting 1,000 identified villages into DigiGaon (Digital Villages) within this financial year.

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