India Told Telecom Operators to Find Ways to Block Facebook, WhatsApp

India has told its telecom operators to find ways to block Facebook, WhatsApp. This instruction has been given to the telecom operators because of the misuse of the social networking and messaging applications, as reported by Reuters.

India in the past few months has increased its efforts to break down the massive message forwarding after it was found that people were making use of social media and messaging applications for spreading rumours and for triggering public fury.

WhatsApp specifically faced the anger of Indian regulators following the spread of a false or fake message, which circulated on the messaging app’s platform and caused a series of mobbing and crowd beatings throughout the nation.

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The telecommunications department in the month of July asking the Indian telecom operators/ service providers, as well as the mobile and internet industry units to search for the different options for blocking these applications.

As per a government letter dated 18^th July, seen by Reuters mentions that the telecom operators were requested to find for the various possibilities and confirm how the apps like Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram and many other such mobile applications could be blocked on the internet.

Facebook Inc., which is the parent company of both Instagram and WhatsApp have declined to comment on the matter. Telegram, however, did not respond immediately to the request for a comment.

As per a source of India’s telecommunications department, the letter was targeted at exploring ways to block the apps during the situations of emergency.

The official on the request of anonymity said that there is a need for a justified and acceptable solution for protecting the national security.

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