In an effort to fight fake news ahead of the General Elections 2019, WhatsApp has launched a television campaign in the country educating users about the same. Earlier, the messaging platform had launched a series of radio campaigns across 46 stations of All India Radio. Three films of one minute each have been filmed based on real events and has been in association with Shirsha Guha Thakurta.
This is also right in-time before the elections in Telangana and Rajasthan. The New Indian Express quoted Bosco Zubaiga, who led the production for WhatsApp, as saying, “We're humbled by the impact that WhatsApp has had on people's ability to freely connect with their loved ones. We recognise at the same time that connecting people can also lead to the spread of misinformation, which has to be confronted.”
Nearly 20 crore people in India use WhatsApp, and the platform is filled with cross-party supporters who spread misinformation and propaganda. More often than not, this leads to disruption in peace and security.
WhatsApp is hoping that the campaign will bring about awareness among people and will teach from from identifying fake news.
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