The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to instant messaging platform WhatsApp, along with the IT and Finance Ministry, seeking a detailed report on the reason behind not appointing a grievance officer in India till the time.
"Supreme Court today issued a notice to WhatsApp, IT and Finance ministry and sought a detailed reply from them within four weeks as to why a grievance officer in India has not been appointed yet by WhatsApp," the news agency ANI reported.
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The notice came days after IT and law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad dialled WhatsApp CEO Chris Daniels, asking the messaging company to immediately appoint a grievance officer in India, who will be in charge of addressing concerns over fake messages, which has allegedly triggered incidents of mob-lynching across India.
The Centre also asked WhatsApp to set up a local corporate entity and find a technology solution to trace the origin of fake messages circulated through its platform that led to a series of horrific crimes in the past few years. The messaging platform was also warned of abetment charges in case action is not taken to tackle circulation of fake messages.
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Though, WhatsApp has given nod to the government's most of the demands, the social media platform will not be able to add a feature that will trace the origin of messages. According to WhatsApp, the company has no access to users' data and tampering with it may breach the privacy of the user.
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