WhatsApp took a radical measure against some of the users who use the messaging platform, over 100.000 accounts within the platform being blocked during the past days. We are talking about a radical measure taken by WhatsApp before the federal elections in Brazil, its motivation based on the fact that the people behind these accounts would distribute fake news through the messaging platform, which could affect the outcome of the elections.
WhatsApp has been in a continuous fight with fake news for several months, they are the basis of the killing of some people in India in the middle of the summer, and now it seems that the platform is also used to affect the outcome of the elections in Brazil. Of course, the authorities there warned WhatsApp about the negative impact that fake news could have on the federal elections, and the company reacted in the only way that could solve the problem to a certain extent.
WhatsApp: RADICAL Measure Taken AGAINST the User
WhatsApp carefully monitored the situation in Brazil, and investigated the reports of fake news content that was distributed through its platform, the end result being the blocking of over 100.000 accounts. Although those at WhatsApp had integrated protection measures in Brazil to reduce the impact of fake news on the elections, it seems that the people carrying out the disinformation campaign also used phone numbers from outside the country to evade the company's protection measures.
"But according to allegations in a front-page report by the Folha de São Paulo, one of Brazil's leading newspapers, Bolsonaro has been getting an illegal helping hand from a group of Brazilian entrepreneurs who are bankrolling a campaign to bombard WhatsApp users with fake news about Haddad…. In some cases overseas numbers were used to get around the platform's spam controls."
WhatsApp has blocked so many accounts that, theoretically, the disinformation campaign with fake news should have ended, but it will probably have a lot of work to do in the next few hours so that the federal elections are not affected. What WhatsApp did in Brazil will certainly be repeated by the company, and Facebook, including in the US, where elections will be held this year, so it will be interesting to see how it will manage the situation in the US, a country much more important.
