It was reported that more than thousands of WhatsApp accounts have been blocked in Brazil due to false misleading information getting circulated effecting the election in one of the largest countries of Latin America. There are more than 120 million users in Brazil.
Facebook also confirmed that it has prepared a special cell to act as an obstacle and control the hate speech which might affect the Brazil’s election to be held later this month. It will also act as a test for the social network whuch will be helpful for the midterm elections which is to be conducted in U.S in the month of November.
The company assured that it was able to control and withdraw false and spam contents from its main network but it had more trouble controlling the misbehavior on WhatsApp, which is impossible to monitor virtually and control externally.
As the Brazil’s election is on October 28, WhatsApp confirmed that it is trying its level best to have control over the misleading information being circulated about the opposition.
Bosonaro updated on his Twitter account that his opponents party will get damaged by the TRUTH but not by the false news and Gustavo Bebianno who is also the head of Bolsonaro’s party said that he has no knowledge of the suspected businessmen who were making donations.
Photo: Silvia Izquierdo (AP)
WhatsApp has taken the allegations seriously and has blocked the account of Flavio (Bolsonaro’s son)for spam few days ago. It has a also banned an account related to former Brazil president Dilma Rousseff which was suspected of misleading people.
A WhatsApp spoke person wrote in an email that it has got technology for detecting accounts with abnormal behavior so that they can’t be used for spreading wrong information. He also confirmed that legal measures are been taken to prevent companies from sending mass messages via WhatsApp and accounts related to such companies have already been banned.
Source : Bloomberg, Gizmodo
