Ministry of State for IT reaches out to WhatsApp for looking into the international scam calls
Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that actions against any digital platform will be taken if it tampers with the user’s safety
Calls on WhatsApp are received from countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Kenya, Ethiopia
WhatsApp has been bringing a lot of updates but with that it also faces a bug which they claim to be a problem from Android's end. But there’s been a hiccup: Indian users are receiving WhatsApp texts from international numbers and they are nothing but scams. So, the Indian Government has sent a request to Meta's messaging app to look into the matter and comes up with a solution. To which WhatsApp has now reverted.
WhatsApp has replied to the Indian Government's plea saying they care about the safety of their users and hence provide the options to block and report the numbers which they find suspicious. WhatsApp also said that they have rehabilitated the AI and ML system which would help to reduce such scams by at least 50 percent.
The WhatsApp spokesperson made a statement saying, "Our users are at the heart of everything we do and we are fully aligned with the Government's goal of keeping users safe. WhatsApp is a leader among end-to-end encrypted services in protecting user safety."
The spokesperson further added, "We have quickly ramped up our AI & ML systems to bring down such incidents significantly. Our new enforcement will reduce the current calling rate by at least 50 percent and we expect to be able to control the current incidence effectively.”
These statements were a response to the notice sent by the Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Their aim is to just reduce such international calls and texts and safeguard their people. He also added that it is not only WhatsApp, but all digital platforms should consider looking into it in order to safely handle their users.
The minister also added that if any kind of harm happens to any user on any particular digital platform the ministry would make sure that some step is taken.
This entire discussion between the IT ministry and WhatsApp happened because Indian citizens have been regularly receiving such spam calls and users took to Twitter to talk about it and how unsafe they felt.
There are a few country codes that are mentioned in the tweets-Indonesia (+62), Vietnam (+84), Malaysia (+60), Kenya (+254) and Ethiopia (+251). Take due note of these country codes and make sure you don’t receive any calls from such numbers and also no links or any kind of texts should be entertained. You receive anything like this, directly block and report.
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Druti Banerjee
Ayushi is a tech enthusiast learning the ropes while dishing out the latest tech news. And when she's not writing tech news, she loves playing BGMI. View Full Profile
