NEW DELHI: Concerned over the growing menace of cyber frauds across the country, the government has directed social media giant Meta to take steps against frauds perpetrated through its ubiquitous WhatsApp messenger.
The concern was raised by the IT Ministry which asked Meta to be on guard against the growing cases of online frauds which have now assumed gigantic proportions, running into thousands of crores of rupees, sources said.
Meta officials did not comment on the development, though the company has said in the past that it takes action against unauthorised accounts and illegal activities across its three platforms – Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
An official in the IT Ministry said, “We are concerned about the rapidly-growing instances of online frauds, especially as the elderly and many others become victims of such activities. While initially the effort was to identify and block mobile telephone connections engaging in such activities, we realise that scamsters are now using the WhatsApp messenger to target gullible individuals.”
This is not the first time, though, that the govt has asked social media companies to be on alert against online scamsters. The govt has time and again issued advisories, asking them to tackle cyber frauds, especially as the nature of attacks have become more sophisticated with time.
Companies also say that they have been deploying technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, apart from running widespread campaigns, to catch the fraudsters and warn the public about them. Meta and other companies also say that they are in touch with law enforcement authorities on the matter.
When asked about the issue recently, Meta India head Sandhya Devanathan told TOI, “Spam, cyber fraud, and other such instances are an issue not just us, but the entire industry… we’ve invested pretty significantly in terms of how we keep people safe on our platforms, even using AI to keep harmful content out… On WhatsApp, we’ve taken steps such as silencing unknown callers. You can report a business and if you get there, you can block a business from contacting you. You can do the same on Instagram and Facebook as well.”