IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday said that the government has asked WhatsApp to develop solutions to tackle fake news.

"The social media platform has to comply with the Indian laws, failing to which WhatsApp could face charges of abetment," the minister said.

In its reply, WhatsApp said that it would deploy a grievance officer and seek to develop technological solutions for traceability of messages.

One of the persons aware of the proposed visit said that WhatsApp officials plan to discuss measures being undertaken to counter the issue of fake news on its platform as well as the impending launch of its payments services in the country.

Last month, WhatsApp top executives including COO Matthew Idema had met IT secretary and other Indian government officials to outline various steps being taken by the company to tackle fake news in India.

Over the past few months, fake messages circulating on WhatsApp have incited incidents of mob fury across parts of India. The government has sent out two notices to the Facebook-owned company directing it to take urgent measures to curb false information and rumours being spread on the messaging platform.

The IT ministry has, in the past, said that the platform cannot escape its responsibility for such rampant abuse and needed to find originators of provocative messages. It had also warned that in the absence of adequate checks, it will treat the messaging platform as abettor of rumour propagation and legal consequences will follow.

Apart from education and advocacy programmes, WhatsApp has also introduced new features to let its users identify forwarded messages, restricted number of forwards at a time and brought out full-page ads giving "easy tips" to spot fake news.

(With inputs from PTI)

First Published:Aug 21, 2018 1:38 PM IST