It costs only Rs 1,000 to bypass anti-spam restrictions set by WhatsApp
.jpg)
WhatsApp clones and software tools that cost as little as Rs 1,000 are helping Indian digital marketers and political activists bypass anti-spam restrictions set up by the world’s most popular messaging app, Reuters has found.
The activities highlight the challenges WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, faces in preventing abuse in India, its biggest market with more than 200 million users.
With fervent campaigning in staggered general elections, which concludes on May 19, the demand for such tools has surged, according to digital companies and sources in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its main rival, the Congress party.
After false messages on WhatsApp last year sparked mob lynchings, the company restricted forwarding of a message to only five users. The software tools appear to overcome those restrictions, allowing users to reach thousands of people at once.
Divya Spandana, the social media chief of the Congress, and the BJP’s IT head, Amit Malviya, did not respond requests for comment.
Rohitash Repswal, who owns a digital marketing business in a cramped, residential neighbourhood of New Delhi, said he ran a Rs 1,000 piece of software round-the-clock in recent months to send up to 100,000 WhatsApp messages a day for two BJP members.
“Whatever WhatsApp does, there’s a workaround,” Repswal said during an interview at his small, two-bedroom house.
Reuters found WhatsApp was misused in at least three ways in India for political campaigning: free clone apps available online were used by some BJP and Congress workers to manually forward messages on a mass basis; software tools which allow users to automate delivery of WhatsApp messages; and some firms offering political workers the chance to go onto a website and send bulk WhatsApp messages from anonymous numbers.
At least three software tools were available on Amazon.com’s India website. When purchased by a Reuters reporter, they arrived as compact discs tucked inside thin cardboard casings, with no company branding. WhatsApp declined a Reuters request to allow testing such tools for reporting this story. “We are continuing to step up our enforcement against imposter WhatsApp services and take legal action by sending cease and desist letters to hundreds of bulk messaging service providers to help curb abuse,” a spokeswoman said. “We do not want them to operate on our platform and we work to ban them”.
Other Latest News
.webp)
JSW Energy on Thursday said its step-down subsidiary JSW Renew Energy Forty Five has inked a power purchase agreement with Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) for a grid connected 100 MW Solar Project.
The Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) has been signed for a tenure of 25 years at a tariff of Rs 4.31 per kWh.
.webp)
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday raided several locations connected to Anil Ambani as part of its ongoing investigation into the Yes Bank loan fraud case. ED's action comes after State Bank of India (SBI) decided to classify telecom company Reliance Communications as 'fraud' and will report its former director, Anil Ambani, to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The ED is currently examining over 50 companies and 25 individuals believed to be part of the network.
.webp)
US President Donald Trump has criticised American technology companies for turning to China for manufacturing and hiring workers from India. He warned that such practices would no longer continue under his leadership.
Speaking at the AI Summit on Wednesday (local time), Trump said the tech industry had followed what he called a “radical globalism”, which had left many Americans feeling betrayed.
.webp)
US President Donald Trump announced that there will be a baseline tariff starting at 15 per cent and going up to 50 per cent on all imports, during an artificial intelligence summit in Washington on Wednesday (local time).
“We’ll have a straight, simple tariff of anywhere between 15 and 50 per cent,” Trump said, adding that countries with which the US has strained diplomatic ties could face duties at the higher end of the range.
.webp)
Electric two-wheeler maker Ola Electric has struck a divergent note with the auto industry, which has appealed to the government to cut the basic Customs duty (BCD) on traction motors by half due to the ongoing export restrictions placed by China on standalone magnets.
While the industry has asked the ministry of heavy industries (MHI) to reduce the basic customs duty on traction motors to 7.5 per cent from the current 15 per cent.
.webp)
.webp)
.webp)
