Wahtsapp launches fake news detecting feature in India

Seeking to crack down on rumours and fake news ahead of general elections in India, social media platform WhatsApp today unveiled new feature 'Checkpoint Tipline' with which people can check the authenticity of information received.

"Launched by PROTO, an India-based media skilling start-up, 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 said that starting from today, 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 message shared is verified or not.

"The response will indicate if 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 grassroot level to submit misinformation circulating across different regions in India during the election period.

The WhatsApp announcement came a day after the Facebook, in the first major crackdown on fake accounts for "inauthentic behaviour", said it has removed nearly 700 pages, groups and accounts from India, including those linked to the main opposition party Congress' IT cell and an IT company. 

Facebook, which has more than 200 million users, had faced flak from the Indian government after a series of mob-lynching incidents, triggered by rumours circulating on WhatsApp claimed several lives last year.

Under pressure to stop rumours and fake news, WhatsApp had last year restricted forwarding messages to five chats at once. It has also been putting out advertisements in newspapers and running television and radio campaigns offering tips to users on how to spot misinformation. Ends