IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asks WhatsApp to station grievance Officer in India

The Central Government on Wednesday, October 31 said that it is not seeking decryption of WhatsApp messages, but rather the location and identity of those spreading misinformation provoking vehemence and heinous offenses. 

After meeting with WhatsApp Vice President Chris Daniels, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "On the issue of traceability, I emphasised that when we talk of traceability, we don't talk of decrypting messages".

"We insist rather on location and identification of the sender of WhatsApp messages when such messages lead to provocation of violence, heinous offenses, and other serious crimes," he said.

READ| Government Tells WhatsApp: Appoint Grievance Officer, Comply With Indian Laws And Open An Indian Entity. WhatsApp Says Okay

Prasad added that he has been assured by the WhatsApp team that they will consider the matter and revert. The Facebook-owned company has been under pressure for months now to put in place a mechanism to clamp down on fake messages on its platform.

"I met Chris Daniels, along with his team, and discussed various issues of the past. They have assured us that they have appointed a grievance officer for India. I have suggested that we will appreciate if grievance officer is also located in India," Prasad said.

The minister said during the meeting, he also emphasized that WhatsApp is an important instrument of message circulation, especially during elections.
"...it is appropriate and desirable that the institutional integrity of this platform is maintained, so that abusers cannot abuse it. They (WhatsApp) have also assured that they will work with my department in preventing circulation of spam farms," he said.

Back on August 21, with an increase in number of incidents of mob lynchings allegedly arising from fake information being shared rampantly, and as well as other condemnable uses of the platform, such as revenge porn, Ravi Shankar Prasad, in his meeting with the WhatsApp CEO, made a number of recommendations that would see the chat platform elevating its operations in India in a way that it can take action, and be held accountable. 

Ravi Shankar Prasad had recommended that the Facebook-owned chat platform appoint a grievance officer in India for quick redressal of problems. "If anyone comes across messages containing fake news or content that might cause disharmony, there should be a WhatsApp employee that will quickly attend to the issue," the IT Minister said.

In response to the Government's notice, WhatsApp had issued an update, making changes such as limiting the number of forwards to five, denoting forwarded messages, and had indicated future updates such as removing the forward button for photos and videos and incorporating a fact checker to check for fake news.  

READ| WhatsApp, CII Collaborate To Train SMEs, Entrepreneurs In India