WhatsApp to help government block sexually offensive videos

WhatsApp, while it may be based from US, it has one of the biggest customer base in India. With the recent rise of sexually offensive videos spreading on social media, the Supreme Court has asked the help of the company to curb.

The company has given its assurance to Supreme Court that it would help in finding ways to block sexually offensive videos on social sites.

The bench from Supreme Court which is looking in to the matter of sexually offensive videos on social media appointed WhatsApp Inc. as a party in the matter.

This was announced by the Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta of the bench. The members of the bunch would meet with the committee and think from a technical side to find a solution to block such videos.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal says that WhatsApp Inc. is sending their team of people from to explain to the committee about the nature of the problem. They will work together to find a solution.

The engineers and tech experts from WhatsApp Inc. would show the committee everything related to the technical aspects including encryption technology. Within two weeks, the members of the firm will meet the committee.

On April 11, the SC has issued a notice to WhatsApp Inc. asking for their response in the matter.

The company was asked to send a detailed e-mail to them to make a presentation and if possible give a video conference to assist the committee.

The committee to tackle sexual offences was formed on March 22. It has representatives from the Centre and internet majors so they can form a technical side solution to block videos of sexual offences on social networking sites.

The committee gave the nominees of Google India, Microsoft India, Yahoo India, Facebook and other internet intermediaries 15 days to meet and come up with a solution.

Earlier, the center said that it would form a special agency to block sharing of sexually offensive videos on social networking platforms.

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