WhatsApp Calls May be Blocked in Some Areas as They Facilitate Terrorist Communication and Fake News

Message application WhatsApp is the most commonly used application by every smartphone user. It has left behind the text message service far behind with the smooth accessibility over an internet connection. The WhatsApp calling facility is an additional benefit of the messaging application which only increases its use. But it has been observed that the WhatsApp calling facility is being misused by anti-nationalist camps. The government hence is working upon a measure to block the WhatsApp calling services in insurgency-hit areas such as Jammu and Kashmir. Officials have said that terrorists stay in touch with their handlers across the borders with the help of this calling facility. Messages spread on WhatsApp are also unreliable and contribute to spreading fake news.

The Home Ministry has expressed the concern at the meeting held in Delhi yesterday which was chaired Unionion Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba. The officials said it has been brought to light several times that during encounters terrorists use the calling feature on WhatsApp to contact their associates. As these applications use end to end encryption, it is difficult to intercept all the data.

Our army camp was attacked in 2016 in Jammu and Kashmir's Nagrota. The National Investigation Agency arrested Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists and it was revealed that they were in touch across the borders through a WhatsApp call. These terrorists were getting directions from their handlers on the other side. Almost 7 army men had lost their lives in this terror attack. The NIA recently took custody of the three people arrested by the state police for their alleged involvement in helping the terrorists which included ferrying them from the border and guiding them to the army camp. "WhatsApp calling and messaging have now become the preferred medium of communication for anti-national forces and we are right now clueless about keeping a tab on it. We need a policy where, when it comes to national security, these apps will be forced to share information with the security agencies," an officer was quoted to NDTV.

The meeting was called to discuss how the use of the social media apps needs to be urgently monitored. There is a lot of malicious content that gets posted on social media to spew venom and spread hatred among the people, giving rise to more communal violence in some areas. The meeting also discussed some examples of countries from the Gulf where neither WhatsApp voice or video calling was allowed. The officials from Ministry of Home Affairs plan to work in tandem with Ministry of Telecom to devise local policies and how to ban certain content on social media, especially the fake news.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 12, 2018 04:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).