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The instant messaging platform had earlier expressed inability in tracing the origin of messages citing privacy of consumers With the government threatening action against  WhatsApp  over spread of fake news, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the American messaging platform, Chris Daniels, flew down to New Delhi to fix things. Daniels, who took over as the boss of WhatsApp in May, on Tuesday told the government it would work out a technological solution to trace the origin of fake messages. The Facebook-owned firm, with more than 200 million active subscribers in India, also committed to complying with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rules relating to local storage of financial data by having servers in India. Daniels, a Facebook insider known for running  Internet.org  at the California-based social media firm, has been firefighting with the Indian authorities over fake news soon after he was appointed as the WhatsApp boss. Following an exchange...

The government is more concerned with Telegram, fast becoming the preferred medium for many people The government has said it expects popular social media applications such as WhatsApp and Facebook, which have large user bases in the country, to be responsible. In a bid to check the spread of fake news through social media and messaging platforms — leading to mob lynching in some cases — the government is exploring the possibility of blocking WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram. The government is also trying to curb child abuse and pornography spread through these platforms. The government has already issued notices on WhatsApp to keep a check on content. But, it is more concerned with Telegram, fast becoming the preferred medium for many people. Sources said the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had expressed concerns about Telegram to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). Based on the letter from MeitY, DoT had asked the telecom an...

Under the present framework, instructions for blocking of websites or URLs are issued by the DoT to internet service licensees, based on the directions of Meity and according to directions from courts In a bid to check the spread of  fake news  through social media and messaging platforms — leading to mob lynching in some cases — the government is exploring the possibility of blocking mobile applications such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Telegram. The government is also trying to curb child abuse and pornography spread through these platforms. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had written to telecommunications service providers (TSPs) and internet service providers (ISPs) on July 18, seeking inputs about options for blocking mobile applications, especially when national security and public order are under threat. According to officials, the DoT had a meeting on July 4 with telcos and ISPs to discuss measures. “Issues have been raised by the M...

The companies may also face censure action by the market watchdog for alleged lapses Sebi will soon take action against some market operators and senior staff members of about a dozen listed blue-chip firms for their alleged involvement in leak of price-sensitive information through WhatsApp. The companies may also face censure action by the market watchdog for alleged lapses in safeguard mechanism to check leak of unpublished price sensitive information (UPSI), including financial results before they were made public for all investors, regulatory sources said. The regulator is close to completing its probe into the matter, including for suspected unlawful gains through insider trading on the basis of leaked information, and is collating the details it had sought from all concerned companies, the officials said. Almost all the companies have replied to Sebi's queries in this regard. According to top officials, the regulator is taking a tough stand on the c...

Kimbho application is touted to be a competitor of the messaging app WhatsApp. The tagline of Kimbho is kept as "Ab Bharat Bolega" Yoga guru Ramdev on Wednesday launched a new messaging application called Kimbho under his flagship company Patanjali. Patanjali's spokesperson SK Tijarawala tweeted, "Now Bharat will speak. After launching sim cards, baba Ramdev has launched a new messaging application called Kimbho. Now Whats App will be given a competition. Our own #SwadeshiMessagingplatform. Download it directly from Google Play store." Kimbho application is touted to be a competitor of the messaging app WhatsApp. The tagline of Kimbho is kept as "Ab Bharat Bolega". अब भारत बोलेगा...! पूज्य @yogrishiramdev @Ach_Balkrishna के मार्गदर्शन में उनके शिष्य नवदीक्षित साधुओं और राष्ट्रनिष्ठ विशेषज्ञों ने #स्वदेशी तकनीक से इजाद कर बनाया यह #KIMBHO एप#भारत #स्वाभिमान Patanjali's new app to challenge WhatsApp @bst_official  Patanj...

The video call is end-to-end encrypted which means other than the sender and receiver no one can access it WhatsApp finally rolled out its  video calling  feature on Monday though slightly late to the party dominated by Facebook's own Messenger, Google's Duo, Skype, and Viber. But with its massive user base of more than one billion, Facebook's backing and other features similar to Snapchat like stories, animations, filters and graphics it can make up for the lost time. WhatsApp has more than 160 million users in India and they don't have to download other apps to make video calls anymore. WhatsApp has even said it has optimised the feature to handle the low-bandwidth internet connectivity and cheap phones used in most parts of India. Since  WhatsApp  chat is based on the phonebook contacts you don't have to deal with annoying call requests from anonymous people. The video call is end-to-end encrypted which means other than the sender and receiver no on...

Facebook launches WhatsApp desktop app for Windows, Mac Social media giant Facebook has made available its   WhatsApp   instant messaging smartphone service on Macand Windows desktops, media reports said on Wednesday. "The new desktop app mirrors your mobile device, allowing you to message friends and family while your phone is in your pocket," Product reviews, how-tos, deals and the latest tech news quoted WhatsApp as saying. Because it runs natively on your desktop as opposed to through an app on your browser, the app allows for native notifications and better keyboard shortcuts, WhatsApp said in a post. The app runs on Windows 8 and above and Mac OS 10.9 and above. To sync the newly-launched Facebook-owned desktop app with smartphone, open the app and scan the QR code with your phone. After several months of beta testing, Facebook recently rolled out Facebook and Messenger apps on Windows 10. The company also updated photo-sharing Instagram app for Windows 10...

In February 2014, when Facebook acquired WhatsApp for a whopping $19 billion, the messaging platform was earning only around $15 million in annual revenue but had a user base of around 450 mn, with a million getting added each month. The revenue was primarily from the annual subscription fee, of around $1, the company was charging users in selected countries after rendering one year of free service. Now, with WhatsApp having decided to make it free for users, it indicates that garnering revenue by charging the users was never the prime focus of its monetisation strategy. With the company now part of social networking site Facebook, the most valuable asset on the WhatsApp platform is the free user-generated data, mostly generated real-time, by close to a billion users that it has worldwide, without paying for it.  Read Articles