We want to hear about misinformation shared on WhatsApp

Help us learn more about the spread of fake news on WhatsApp in the U.S., and whether it’s had any impact in our country.

A note from Beena Raghavendran and Vignesh Ramachandran:

Why we’re doing this:

Dear Indian-American millennials,

We know you probably use WhatsApp to keep in touch with your relatives and friends, both in the U.S. and around the world. And you may have that one relative who lovingly spams your phone with notifications, dropping message after message into a family WhatsApp group.

We want to hear about those messages.

We’re two Indian-American journalists (millennials, too!) committed to increasing the representation and coverage of all South Asians, starting with Indians, in American journalism. We want to kick off that effort by understanding more about our community and how to cover issues important to us all by asking you to share about your experiences on WhatsApp.

You might be in the loop about WhatsApp’s controversies in the motherland: In India, rumors about child kidnappers spread through WhatsApp — and the fake rumors led to deadly consequences, like this and this. We want to know more about the spread of fake news on WhatsApp in the U.S., and whether it’s had any impact in our country.

We’re wondering if something you’ve seen recently on WhatsApp has made you skeptical. Was there a message that came through one of your groups— or even several of your groups — that you questioned for accuracy reasons? If you don’t have an example like this: Did you come across a WhatsApp message you feel like sharing with us?

Forward a WhatsApp message to us at 646–481–3221 OR email it to us at redwhiteandbrownmedia@gmail.com OR DM it to us on Twitter @rwbmedia .

We want to know why you use WhatsApp, among the many ways to keep in touch with loved ones.

By sharing your story with us, you can help improve the coverage of our community in the U.S. Indians make up 1 percent of the U.S., and nearly 20 percent of the nation’s overall Asian population, according to the 2015 American Community Survey.

We believe journalism should be reflective of communities — and that includes Indian-Americans. The responsibility to build that representation in the media includes us. Going without seeing your community represented regularly in media outlets leads to all sorts of things — major news going uncovered, younger generations feeling like the community isn’t important or seen, and even the spreading of wrong information or ideas without anyone to provide a check.

We hope that hearing stories about WhatsApp can be the start of something bigger.

Hoping to hear from you,

Beena Raghavendran and Vignesh Ramachandran