NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday warned WhatsApp that failure to contain fake news — which has led to incidents of lynching across many states — makes the messaging platform an “abettor” in the crime which could lead to “consequent legal action”.

“WhatsApp has been requested to come out with more effective solutions that can bring in accountability and facilitate enforcement of law in addition to their efforts towards labelling forwards and identifying fake news. It has been conveyed to them in unmistakable terms that it is a very serious issue which deserves a more sensitive response,” the IT ministry said in a fresh warning to the company.

The latest advisory to WhatsApp follows a fresh incident in Bidar in Karnataka where a 32-year-old software engineer Mohammed Azam was killed after rumours went viral on WhatsApp, branding him a part of a child-lifter gang. “It is regretted that the enormity of the challenge and the rampant abuse happening in the country, leading to repeated commissioning of crimes pursuant to rampant circulation of irresponsible messages in large volumes on their platform, have not been addressed adequately by WhatsApp,” the ministry said.

The ministry said that WhatsApp cannot evade its responsibility in any manner. “Reports in the media resonate the general sentiment that there is much more that needs to be done by WhatsApp.

There is a need for bringing in traceability and accountability when a provocative/inflammatory message is detected and a request is made by law enforcement agencies.

When rumours and fake news get propagated by mischief mongers, the medium used for such propagation cannot evade responsibility and accountability,” the government said, adding, “If they remain mute spectators, they are liable to be treated as abettors and thereafter face consequent legal action.”

