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from the consequences-will-never-be-the-same dept.
From The Register:
India has warned Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp to do something about abuse of its service that has led to murders.
A July 3rd statement from the nation's Ministry of Electronics & IT says "Instances of lynching of innocent people have been noticed recently because of large number of irresponsible and explosive messages filled with rumours and provocation are being circulated on WhatsApp."
"Deep disapproval of such developments has been conveyed to the senior management of the WhatsApp and they have been advised that necessary remedial measures should be taken to prevent proliferation of these fake and at times motivated/sensational messages," the statement adds. "The Government has also directed that spread of such messages should be immediately contained through the application of appropriate technology."
The statement points out that rumours aren't WhatsApp's fault, saying the service has been "abused by some miscreants who resort to provocative messages which lead to spread of violence."
But the nation's government isn't letting the platform off easily as the statement ends as follows:
The Government has also conveyed in no uncertain terms that WhatsApp must take immediate action to end this menace and ensure that their platform is not used for such malafide activities.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by inertnet on Wednesday July 11 2018, @01:26PM (2 children)
I don't see how WhatsApp could do what they ask.
But WhatsApp could probably easily find out where those messages originated. It certainly would help if creators of mob inciting messages would be held responsible.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 11 2018, @05:09PM (1 child)
It doesn't matter that it's not rationally possible for WhatsApp to implement the proposal.
This is a part of the big push for censorship by Western oligarchs. The idea of "fake news" is also a part of that push. That push is the only reason we're hearing about it.
The elites know that the working class is beginning to organize, first in many countries, and then eventually the working class will see the logic of organizing internationally. I cannot say whether this will actually result in Trotskyist (wswswsws/International Committee of the Fourth International) goal being met, but the workers are beginning to fight back against the theft of wealth by the elites. The only way the working class can be contained is if pervasive censorship, not unlike in China, is implemented in Western countries.
The strategy being pursued includes articles like this one that are designed partly to put Westerners into a white savior mindset (see comments above), though mostly it is similar to the coverage in the mainstream media, particularly Washington Post and New York Times, demonizing the alt-right as the sole target of the censorship. (Don't get me wrong. I saw a picture earlier today taken at the NATO conference and I was laughing my ass off--when I get home I think I'll add the caption "So ronery." Trump is a disgrace. That does not mean that Clinton would not have been dangerous.) The only major difference I can find between what Trump is doing with tariffs and what TPP/TTIP/TISA would have done is that Trump is alienating the EU whereas TPP/TTIP/TISA would have created closer ties to the EU.
Trump is being held up as the ultimate scare tactic to make us fall in line and support the censorship of "fake news."
So we are meant to be sorely afraid of "fake news," rumors and hearsay. What is fake news? Common Dreams. wswswswswsws. Alternet. Many anti-capitalist and left-wing oppositional viewpoints. If internet censorship akin to China's happens, how else might the working class organize, which at that point might include some of our Second Amendment People (maybe, probably... it could be the case that the R team's complete ineffectiveness against Trump in the primaries was because the elites are hoping that they can keep our Second Amendment People stuck in the right-wing authoritarian follower mindset, unable to question anything their designated right-wing authoritarian leader says... disclaimers... I'm a Second Amendment Person... the ctrl-left is also a right-wing authoritarian movement)? Well, the working class would have to turn to rumors and hearsay, forms of organization that can happen without an electronic global communications network.
What's interesting about India is that there seems to be a growing Trotskyist movement in Tamil Nadu [wikipedia.org] (a state in southern India, on the east coast), which wswswswswsws covers every now and then.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 11 2018, @09:21PM
exactly! this is just propaganda for censorship and control of the infonet and netizens. when i hear some government parasite claiming "innocents are being killed from fake news" i hear "some scumbags are finally getting what they deserve and the government is trying to prevent it" because "who's next, government officials? ohh the horror!"