WhatsApp Scams: Government asks Meta to tackle cases of cyber frauds after TRAI’s appeal
The Indian government has ordered Meta to combat the rising WhatsApp scams. The intervention comes amid a surge in cyberfraud cases in the country, and after PM Modi’s warning to the people against the rise in Digital Arrest scams during a recent Mann ki Baat episode. S Krishnan, secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), said that the government had raised the issue of escalating frauds with WhatsApp, but added that the process was ongoing.
In an interaction, Krishnan said, “We have taken it (scams issue) up with Meta. This is a continuous process. They (scamsters) will keep discovering newer ways, making people worry,”
“If there is some wrong content, there is a process. The IT rules require these companies to have a grievance officer with whom users can raise issues. They can raise it either within the app or outside. In case, the issue is not dealt with, there is also a grievance appellate committee.” Krishnan added.
Anil Kumar Lahoti of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) revealed to the Economic Times that MeitY handles WhatsApp calls and that the watchdog has asked the government to investigate the growing number of scams on the personal messaging app. Notably, over-the-top services like as WhatsApp, X, Instagram, Telegram, and Signal are currently not subject to TRAI regulations.
