- In July, a mob beat five
men to death in Rainpada
after one of them was
mistaken for a child kidnapper
that the villagers had seen
or read about on WhatsApp.
- The rumors that were
being spread over WhatsApp
were about these gangs of child abductors
who would come to your village,
kidnap your children,
and then sell them for their organs.
There was one video, for instance,
which was actually an image
of dead bodies of children.
The picture was not even from India.
It was actually a photograph from Syria.
- Bear in mind that WhatsApp
is effectively the internet
in a lot of these places,
where villagers are going online
or using their smartphones
for the very first time.
We talk to people who receive
the child abduction rumors and messages
on WhatsApp and then share
them with family and friends,
as well as police officers
and lawyers for some of the 28 accused.
And all of them point
the finger at WhatsApp
saying the spread of misinformation
really put the village on edge.
Rainpada is now effectively torn apart.
A lot of the men have been put in jail,
while others have fled the village.
- There's lots of efforts
that are happening at the
local grass roots level.
Authorities have put up
banners across the district
and they are distributing pamphlets,
reaching out to local news channels.
They are trying to do what they can
to help educate people
and make them aware that misinformation
spreading through WhatsApp is a problem.
There are also a look of NGOs
who have gotten involved.
One NGO in the Dhule District
forms street pleas in
remote parts of the state.
- While WhatsApp has made some changes
to its app stem viral rumors,
it says it will not build
a tool to trace messages,
something it believes will
compromise user privacy.
Still, the lynching shows how technology
can exacerbate existing social problems
and lead to unforeseen consequences
for some of the world's
most vulnerable people.
(intriguing instrumental music)
