WhatsApp Fights Fake News: Facebook Owned Messenger App Launches Video Ad Campaign 'Share Joy, Not Rumours'
Three films have been made in nine languages to reach the diverse population of WhatsApp.
Mumbai, December 3: Ahead of Assembly Elections this year and General Elections in 2019, WhatsApp has launched a 360-degree campaign with an attempt to curb the spread of fake news on its platform. Three films have been made in nine languages to reach the diverse population of WhatsApp. The statement from the company said, "The campaign is timed to start just prior to the elections in Rajasthan and Telangana and WhatsApp will build on this effort headed into the national election next year." WhatsApp Appoints Abhijit Bose as its India Head.
The latest campaign comprises three 60-second films that convey real scenarios about dangerous rumours that spread via spam among family and school groups, WhatsApp said in a statement added that in each film, the protagonist teaches someone important in their lives to not spread rumours and to use WhatsApp controls such as the ability to leave groups that could be propagating misinformation and how to block unknown senders. WhatsApp Stickers Feature Now Available For All Users on Android and iOS: Here's How You Can Download More Stickers.
Watch the video ads here:
In this video ad, it is a story of a girl who stays away from home, but is connected with all her family members via the WhatsApp group. However, one day one of her uncles shares a forward in the group. It is then that she makes him understand that forwards without verifying can only cause panic and rumours.
In this video, the story of a college WhatsApp group is highlighted. In this video, the college group admin warns his classmate and makes him understand not to spread fake news.
This video talks about how a chef who loves to share her recipes and flaunt the beautiful pictures of her food to her fans and followers, one day decides to block and remove a user from her WhatsApp group, after someone spreads a fake news.
After being slapped with two notices by the Indian government earlier this year to check the spread of fake news, WhatsApp has taken a series of measures, including restricting the number of forwards and added ‘forward' label to help users identify such messages. Under pressure from the government to build a separate corporate entity in the country, WhatsApp recently appointed Abhijit Bose as its India's head. As per reports, Bose will join WhatsApp in early 2019, and the Facebook-owned company will build WhatsApp's first full country team outside of California and will be based in Gurugram.
(With additional inputs from PTI)
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 03, 2018 01:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).