Govt To Send Notice To WhatsApp On Spam Calls From Unknown International Numbers: MoS IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar

The minister's comment comes as Indian WhatsApp users have reported a massive surge in incoming international spam calls over the past few days. 

On Thursday, Chandrasekhar said that his ministry is paying attention to the issue and will be issuing a notice to WhatsApp regarding it.

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Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday said that his ministry will send a notice to WhatsApp on the issue of spam calls from unknown international numbers, reported news agency PTI. The minister's comment comes as Indian WhatsApp users have reported a massive surge in incoming international spam calls over the past few days. 

According to the report, Rajeev Chandrasekhar asserted that the onus of ensuring user safety lies with digital platforms. The digital platforms are responsible and accountable for ensuring the safety of 'digital nagriks' and the government will respond to every instance of alleged misuse or alleged breach of users' privacy.

Many Whatsapp users have complained on Social media that a major chunk of these spam calls had country codes belonging to Indonesia (+62), Vietnam (+84), Malaysia (+60), Kenya (+254), and Ethiopia (+251).  

On Thursday, Chandrasekhar said that his ministry is paying attention to the issue and will be issuing a notice to WhatsApp regarding it.

Talking to reports on the sidelines of an event organised by the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI), MoS IT said, "The Ministry is taking note of it, they will send them a notice. I have said repeatedly that openness trust, safety and accountability are the responsibility of platforms who deliver to digital nagriks."

According to PTI, he also said that the government is mulling guidelines on what should be permissions for preloaded apps. He said the platforms are responsible for ensuring the safety and trust of users.

If there is an issue of spam, it is certainly an issue WhatsApp should look at or any messenger platform should look at, he added.

"Government will respond to every alleged misuse or alleged breach of privacy," he said.

"How are they able to identify which numbers are on WhatsApp...are they doing it blindly...is it some database they have got? If there is a database it is a violation of privacy, or if not are they are doing it through a bot... sending messages to random numbers... But that is certainly something platforms will be asked to look at," Chandrasekhar said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Chandrasekhar in response to a WhatsApp privacy breach complained, tweeted that the government will investigate a claim that WhatsApp accessed the microphone of smartphone users while the phone was not in use.

This is an unacceptable breach n violation of #Privacy

We will be examinig this immdtly and will act on any violation of privacy even as new Digital Personal Data protection bill #DPDP is being readied.@GoI_MeitY @_DigitalIndia https://t.co/vtFrST4bKP

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI) May 10, 2023

In a tweet, the minister had said the government will examine the alleged breach of privacy even as the new Digital Personal Data Protection Bill was being readied.

WhatsApp responded saying it has been in touch with the Twitter engineer over the last 24 hours, who posted an issue with his Pixel phone and WhatsApp.

"We believe this is a bug on Android that misattributes information in their Privacy Dashboard and have asked Google to investigate and remediate," WhatsApp said in a tweet.

According to the report, on Thursday, in response to a query on some online gaming platforms opposing the idea of the self-regulatory organisation (SRO) supported by the association IAMAI, MoS IT said it has already been clarified during the consultation process that no existing industry organisation can be an SRO.

"SRO has to be notified by the Ministry, which means SRO has to be approved by the Ministry as meeting criteria laid down in online gaming rules. There will be SRO that will be formed...100 will apply, and three will be selected based on who is most transparent, inclusive and who represents most stakeholders and who is more credible," the minister said.

Chandrasekhar also said he is hopeful that the digital personal data protection Bill will be introduced in the coming session of Parliament.