DNA Edit: Nuisance Potential - Regulations for social media are for battling fake news

WhatsApp is agonising over the prospect that the proposed government regulations for social media companies operating in India might push it out of business. It’s particularly wary about the regulation that insists on traceability of the messages. The app’s USP is the end-to-end encryption which accords users privacy acts as a bulwark against government surveillance.

However, in this case, such encryption makes it difficult for law-enforcement authorities to find out the culprit behind a misinformation campaign. With the business of fake news becoming firmly entrenched, that too in an election year, the government can ill-afford to sit on its haunches and not take action.

Consider this: 25 people have been killed in mob lynchings because of rumours spread on WhatsApp. There is no denying the importance of social media in the country’s political landscape. It’s a battleground for political parties trying to consolidate their voter base.

The Facebook-owned messaging platform has more than 200 million users in India, which makes it an extremely potent weapon for hate-mongering parties. Prodded by the Indian government, WhatsApp has battled the menace of fake news by bolstering local fact-checking organisations and airing national ads among other initiatives.

It is also hiring more reviewers proficient in regional languages ahead of the nation-wide polls. But the government is loathe to taking chances. The not-so-thin line separating fact from fiction as well as privacy issues are at the core of the regulations for social media.

Imagine that in spite of the messaging app banning nearly two million suspicious accounts every month, fake news continues to make Indian society extremely vulnerable. This perhaps explains why WhatsApp is banned in about 12 countries.