Sugat Srivastava
Messaging app – WhatsApp – is searching for a person to work with the Government of India to ‘curb’ fake news. Messaging behemoth announced the vacancy to head its India operations by the year end. They advertised for the similar job role in April too.
Our new head of WhatsApp India, who will be named by the end of the year, will build a local team that can serve our customers in India as well as work with partners and government leaders to help keep people safe.
WhatsApp said in an email statement to PTI.
While India CEO of WhatsApp is a covetous position, it comes with its own perils when there is an increasing perception in the government that the company is not doing enough to curb the spread of fake messages that incite violence.
The position of Whatsapp India head might come with personal legal liability. The messaging platform has run into trouble in other parts of the world over messages being circulated on its platform. In 2016, a senior executive of Facebook Inc was arrested in Brazil over a court’s demand that the company provide data from its WhatsApp messaging service to help in a drug-trafficking investigation.
WhatsApp is becoming notorious for inciting mob and spreading fake news. Though they have added the feature which says whether the message is original or forwarded. But, it was not enough. They advertised the position on Facebook with proper job description and their qualification expectations. In September, it appointed a grievance officer for India after facing pressure from the government. Now the government has demanded that the officer be stationed in India instead of the US. That will expose the officer to Indian law.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings