The research examines the ways in which WhatsApp users understand and find solutions to the spate of "WhatsApp lynchings" that have killed over 30 people so far.
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WhatsApp received proposals from over 600 research teams around the world (File Photo)
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NEW DELHI:
Facebook-owned WhatsApp on
Tuesday announced that it has selected 20 research teams worldwide - including
experts from India and those of Indian origin -- who will work towards how misinformation
spreads and what additional steps the mobile messaging platform could take to
curb fake news.
Shakuntala Banaji from London
School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Anushi Agrawal and Nihal
Passanha from Bengaluru-based media and arts collective "Maraa" and
Ramnath Bhat from LSE have been selected for the paper titled "WhatsApp
Vigilantes? WhatsApp messages and mob violence in India".
The research examines the ways in
which WhatsApp users understand and find solutions to the spate of "WhatsApp
lynchings" that have killed over 30 people so far.
The centre has also directed
WhatsApp to take necessary remedial measures to prevent proliferation of fake
and, at times, motivated/sensational messages on its platform.
Among others selected were Vineet
Kumar from Ranchi-headquartered Cyber Peace Foundation (principal
investigator), Amrita Choudhary, President of the Delhi-based non-profit Cyber
Cafe Association of India (CCAOI) and Anand Raje from Cyber Peace Foundation.
They will work as a team on the
paper titled "Digital literacy and impact of misinformation on emerging
digital societies".
PN Vasanti from Centre for Media
Studies in New Delhi will work with S Shyam Sundar, The Pennsylvania State
University (Principal Investigator) to examine the role of content modality in
vulnerability to misinformation, under the topic titled "Seeing is
Believing: Is Video Modality More Powerful in Spreading Fake News?"
WhatsApp had issued a call for
papers in July this year and received proposals from over 600 research teams
around the world.
“Each of the 20 research teams
will receive up to $50,000 for their project (for a total of $1 million),"
WhatsApp said in a statement.
Lipika Kamra from OP Jindal
Global University and Philippa Williams from the Queen Mary University of
London (Principal Investigator) will examine the role of WhatsApp in everyday
political conversations in India, in the context of India's social media
ecosystem.
According to Mrinalini Rao, lead
researcher at WhatsApp, the platform cares deeply about the safety of its over
1.5 billion monthly active users globally and over 200 million users in India.
"We appreciate the
opportunity to learn from these international experts about how we can continue
to help address the impact of misinformation," Ms Rao said.
"These studies will help us
build upon recent changes we have made within WhatsApp and support broad education
campaigns to help keep people safe," she added.
The recipients are from countries
including Brazil, India, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria,
Singapore, Spain, the UK and US.
WhatsApp said it is hosting them
in California this week so they can hear from product leaders about how it
builds its product.
"Given the nature of private
messaging - where 90 per cent of the messages sent are between two people and
group sizes are strictly limited - our focus remains on educating and
empowering users and proactively tackling abuse," said the company.
WhatsApp recently implemented a
"forward label" to inform users when they received a message that was
not originally written by their friend or loved one. To tackle abuse, WhatApp
has also set a limit on how many forwards can be sent.
In India, WhatsApp has partnered
with the Digital Empowerment Foundation to train community leaders in several
states on how to address misinformation.
"We are also running ads in
several languages -- in print, online, and on over 100 radio stations --
amounting to the largest public education campaign on misinformation anywhere
in the world," the company noted.
Sayan Banerjee from University of
Essex, Srinjoy Bose from University of New South Wales and Robert A. Johns from
University of Essex will study "Misinformation in Diverse Societies,
Political Behaviour & Good Governance".
Santosh Vijaykumar from
Northumbria University, Arun Nair from Health Systems Research India Initiative
and Venkat Chilukuri, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology are part
of the team that will study "Misinformation Vulnerabilities among Elderly
during Disease Outbreaks".
Tags:WhatsAppFake NewsWhatsApp Lynchings
Source:https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/whatsapp-selects-20-teams-to-curb-fake-news-globally-including-in-india-1946482
Source:https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/whatsapp-selects-20-teams-to-curb-fake-news-globally-including-in-india-1946482
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