WhatsApp ‘tipline’ to tackle fake news ahead of LS poll

New Delhi, April 2

WhatsApp today unveiled its ‘Checkpoint Tipline’, where people can check the authenticity of information received as the messaging giant looks to crack down on fake news ahead of the General Election in the country.

“Launched by PROTO, an India-based media skilling startup, this tipline will help create a database of rumours to study misinformation during elections for Checkpoint — a research project commissioned and technically assisted by WhatsApp,” the Facebook-owned company said in a statement. It added that starting Tuesday, people in India can submit misinformation or rumours they receive to the Checkpoint Tipline on WhatsApp (+91-9643-000-888).

Once a WhatsApp user shares a suspicious message with the tipline, PROTO’s verification centre will seek to respond and inform the user if the claim made in the message shared is verified or not.

“The response will indicate if the information is classified as true, false, misleading, disputed or out of scope and include any other related information that is available,” the statement said. This centre is equipped to review content in the form of pictures, video links or text and will cover English and four regional languages — Hindi, Telugu, Bengali and Malayalam.

PROTO will also look at working with organisations at the grassroots level to submit misinformation circulating across different regions in India during elections. Facebook, which has over 20 crore users in India, had faced flak after a series of mob-lynching incidents, triggered by rumours circulating on WhatsApp, claimed lives last year.

Under pressure to stop rumours, WhatsApp had last year restricted forwarding messages to five chats at once. India, through proposed changes in IT rules, is seeking to make social media platforms more accountable by mandating them to introduce tools that can identify and disable “unlawful content”. — PTI

Laws around the world

Governments and companies worldwide are increasingly worried about the spread of false information online and its impact on everything from share prices to elections and social unrest. Details of such laws around the world:

SINGAPORE: Requires social media sites to carry warnings on posts govt deems false and remove comments against 'public interest'. Violations may attract fines of up to $737,500 and 10-yearjail

RUSSIA: May block websites that don't meet requests to remove inaccurate information. Individuals can be fined up to $6,109.44 for circulating false info that leads to a 'mass violation of public order'

FRANCE: Passed two anti-fake news laws last year to rein in false info during election campaigns following allegations of Russian meddling in the 2017 presidential vote.

GERMANY: Passed a law last year for social media companies to quickly remove hate speech. Called NetzDG, the law will enforce online Germany's tough curbs on hate speech by giving sites a 24-hour deadline to remove banned content or face fines of up to 50 million euros.

MALAYSIA: Ousted former government was among the first to adopt a law against fake news, which critics say was used to curb free speech ahead of last year's general elections, which it lost. The measure was seen as a tool to fend off criticism over graft and mismanagement of funds by then PM Najib Razak, who now faces charges linked to a multibillion-dollar scandal.

Fb may hire scribes for the job

Fake accounts have to be dealt with very seriously... We have to make a business to finance investigative scribes and big foreign networks. We’re not going to have journalists making news. We want to make sure this is a product that can get people high-quality news. Mark Zuckerberg