Ravi Shankar Prasad meets WhatsApp CEO Chris Daniels, suggests having a grievance officer in India

Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad held a meeting with WhatsApp CEO Chris Daniels for discussions on tackling of the rampant spread of fake news in the country.

Image: Twitter/ @nistula

NEW DELHI: Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad held a meeting with WhatsApp CEO Chris Daniels for discussions on tackling of the spread of fake news on the platform. To news agency ANI, Ravi Shankar Prasad said “I had a very productive meeting. I complimented him for extraordinary technological awakening that WhatsApp has led in the country, for education, healthcare, relief in Kerala. These are positive developments.”

I had a very productive meeting. I complimented him for extraordinary technological awakening that WhatsApp has led in the country, for education, healthcare, relief in Kerala. These are positive developments: Union IT Minister RS Prasad after meeting #Whatsapp CEO Chris Daniels pic.twitter.com/PLZJhB33Zb

— ANI (@ANI) August 21, 2018

He further added that there are also very sinister developments, that provoke crime like mob lynching, revenge porn, & you must find solutions to these challenges which are a downright criminal violation of Indian laws. Union IT Minister also gave three suggestions to the Whatsapp CEO which were –

1. WhatsApp must have a grievance officer in India: RS Prasad
2. WhatsApp must have a proper compliance with Indian laws. It was said that the govt. won't appreciate a scenario where any problem will have to be answered in America.
3. WhatsApp has become an important component of India's digital storage & must have a proper corporate entity located in India.

According to reports, WhatsApp CEO Chris Daniels will be in India for 4-5 days. Over the past few months, fake messages circulating on WhatsApp have incited incidents of mob lynching across parts of India. The government has sent out notices to the Facebook-owned company directing it to take urgent measures to curb false information in India. To tackle the spread of false information, the Facebook-owned platform has limited forward messaging to five chats for over 200 million users in India.