Whatsapp on Tuesday launched a 'tipline’ in India using which citizens can submit possible rumours and misinformation for verification, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“Starting today, people in India can submit uncertain information or rumours they have received to the Checkpoint Tipline on WhatsApp +91-9643-000-888,” the Facebook-owned firm said in a statement.
WhatsApp is working with India-based media skilling startup PROTO for the helpline. It added that this will help create a database of rumours to study misinformation during elections for Checkpoint - a research project commissioned and technically assisted by WhatsApp.
“When a WhatsApp user shares a suspicious message with the tipline, PROTO’s verification center will seek to respond and inform the user if the claim made in message shared is verified or not,” the company explained.
The response, it added, will indicate if information is classified as true, false, misleading, disputed or out of scope and include any other related information that is available.
“This center can review rumours in the form of pictures, video links or text and will cover four regional languages including Hindi, Telugu, Bengali and Malayalam, other than English.”
PROTO will also encourage grass-roots organisations to submit rumours circulating across different regions in India during the election period.
