New Delhi: With the Indian government taking note of the barrage of international spam calls being faced by WhatsApp users in the country, the Meta-owned instant messaging platform said Thursday that it has implemented artificial intelligence and machine learning-based systems that will help bring down such incidents significantly.
“Our new enforcement will reduce the current calling rate by at least 50 per cent and we expect to be able to control the current incidence effectively,” WhatsApp said in a statement.
Over the past few days, reports of WhatsApp users in India being bombarded with spam calls have been on the rise. Users have reported receiving multiple missed voice and video calls from international numbers.
Speaking on the sidelines of an event organised by the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI) Wednesday, Minister of State of Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar had said that the government has taken note of the issue and will soon send a notice to WhatsApp.
‘Protecting user security fundamental’
In its statement Thursday, a WhatsApp spokesperson said, “Protecting the privacy and security of users is fundamental to Meta and to WhatsApp. Our users are at the heart of everything we do and we are fully aligned with the government’s goal of keeping users safe. WhatsApp is a leader among end-to-end encrypted services in protecting user safety.”
The spokesperson added that the platform continues to provide several safety tools like ‘block & report’, consistently builds user safety education and awareness, as well as, proactively weeds out bad actors from its platform.
“However, bad actors find different ways to scam users. International scam calls are a new way that bad actors have recently adopted. By giving a missed call, they lead curious users to call or message back only to get scammed,” the statement said.
It added: “Therefore, we have quickly ramped up our AI & ML systems to bring down such incidents significantly. Our new enforcement will reduce the current calling rate by at least 50 per cent and we expect to be able to control the current incidence effectively. We will continue to work relentlessly towards ensuring a safe experience for our users.”
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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