Whatsapp is a quintessential app in today’s world and everybody seems to be using it. It has replaced SMS as the messaging service of choice due to reasons such as a) It is free of cost b) It can be used to send Images and Videos c) It is real time since you get to know about the status of your message (sent/received/read by other user).
The application is used for One to One communication with people who you are close to – such as family members, friends and work colleagues. In addition, there is one more feature which has made it so popular – “Whatsapp Groups”. Who can forget getting “Good Mornings” and “Good Nights” from almost strangers.
Source: Business Today
Everyone is a part of many Whatsapp groups which are used for keeping in touch with a larger group of people and almost everyone is an admin of some of them 🙂
You might not know, but Whatsapp has become so ubiquitous in India that it has 20 crore users of the app which is even more than Facebook. And Guess what, all these people use Whatsapp Multiple times daily, so the app can used to spread any news very fast.
Whatsapp is used for spreading both positive things as well as rumors depending upon the intentions of the person who is posting the message. Lately, there have been a number of cases wherein people spread rumors through the WHatsApp Groups and it harmed a lot of people. In fact, this rumor issue is so rampant in India that one news channel broadcasts a program called “Viral Sach” daily at Prime Time wherein they investigate the authenticity of one such rumor.
But now, the Government authorities have taken this issue seriously and the District Magistrate and Senior Superintendent of Police in Varanasi have come out with a verdict that it is possible to file an FIR against Whatsapp Group Admins. The order states that posts which are factually incorrect or which are uploaded to create rumors are covered under this decision.
Source: IndiaToday
“There are several groups on social media which are named on news groups and also groups with other names which are propagating news and information which is not authentic. These are being forwarded without cross checking,” a joint order issued by the District Magistrate of Varanasi, Yogeshwar Ram Mishra and Senior Superintendent of Police Nitin Tiwari said.
However, currently, the jurisdiction of this decision is only Varanasi but Babe hopes that something like this happens at a national level!!
Source: PRESSKS
Don’t forget to share it with your Friends who cross post things without checking their authenticity.
