MeitY To Send Notice To WhatsApp On International Spam Call Row

As the issue of spam calls on WhatsApp from unknown international numbers surges in India, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday said that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) would send a notice to the Meta-owned messaging platform.

The minister added that the onus of ensuring user safety lies with the digital platforms, news agency PTI reported. He also emphasised that the digital platforms were responsible and accountable for ensuring the safety of ‘digital nagriks’.

Chandrasekhar added that the government would respond to every instance of the alleged misuse or breach of users’ privacy.

WhatsApp users in India have reported a major surge in incoming international spam calls over the past few days. Many users have complained that a major chunk of these spam calls had country codes belonging to Indonesia (+62), Vietnam (+84), Malaysia (+60), Kenya (+254) and Ethiopia (+251). These calls are not just limited to audio but also include video calls and messages from spammers.

“The Ministry is taking note of it, they will send them a notice,” the minister commented on the issue while speaking at the Public Affairs Forum of India’s (PAFI) Dialogue.

Meanwhile, sharing WhatsApp’s stance on the matter, a WhatsApp spokesperson said, “Protecting the privacy and security of users is fundamental to Meta and WhatsApp. Our users are at the heart of everything we do, and we are fully aligned with the Government’s goal of keeping users safe.”

“We continue to provide several safety tools within WhatsApp like Block & Report, consistently build user safety education and awareness, as well as, proactively weed out bad-actors from our platform. However, bad actors find different ways to scam users. International scam calls are a new way that bad actors have recently adopted. By giving a missed call, they lead curious users to call or message back only to get scammed,” the spokesperson said in a statement sent to the press late Thursday evening.

Further, the spokesperson claimed that the company was ramping up its AI & ML systems to bring down such incidents significantly. The new enforcement will reduce the current calling rate by at least 50%, the spokesperson said.

During the event, Chandrasekhar also said that India hopes to achieve the $1 Tn digital economy landmark by 2025-2026, and it will also be a big part of catalysing the entrepreneurial culture in the country, with an increasing number of startups contributing to the economy.

“We are embarking on a journey to be a global player in emerging technologies – AI, quantum computing, semi-conductor, etc. Several policies will be made by the government. Our PM wants these policies and laws to be of global standards so that they are a catalyst for our ambitions. The public affairs professionals can play a role here by participating in the consultation process, which is being institutionalised now, with their thoughts, ideas, solutions and suggestions,” the minister said.

On Wednesday, MoS Chandrasekhar said that the government will examine WhatsApp’s alleged breach of privacy, based on a claim that WhatsApp accessed a user’s microphone while he was sleeping.

“WhatsApp has been using the microphone in the background, while I was asleep and since I woke up at 6 am,” Foad Dabiri, an engineering director at Twitter said on Saturday.

The minister said this is an unacceptable breach and violation of privacy. “We will be examining this immediately and will act on any violation of privacy even as the new Digital Personal Data Protection bill is being readied,” he added.

Big tech companies, including WhatsApp, have already been under the government’s scrutiny. In October last year, WhatsApp witnessed a two-hour service disruption. Later, the messaging platform was directed to file a report.