With WhatsApp giving no assurance to the government regarding tracing of the origin of fake messages, the Centre is likely to issue another notice to the Facebook-owned company next week.
This will be the third notice to the messaging platform regarding the contentious issue of fake messages. People in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology with knowledge of the matter said the intent is to keep WhatsApp engaged while asserting its demand that a solution be provided. “We are asking WhatsApp to do it (provide the solution) as it will become mandatory once guidelines regarding cybersecurity are put in place,” said a person in the ministry.
The government is working on guidelines to make it mandatory for companies to have their offices and top executives in India. The guidelines seek to put in place a mechanism wherein firms will be required to share data with security agencies.
The ministry feels WhatsApp has the knowhow to safeguard privacy and at the same time respond to specific cases in which people get killed.
The people added that the government does not seek content of the messages but a solution to trace the unusual spreading of messages. The use of metadata like mobile numbers, handset type, mobile network, time, data on webpages visited through WhatsApp can be helpful in tracing unusual activities.