The Problem With Fixing WhatsApp? Human Nature Might Get in the Way
The messaging app, which is owned by Facebook, has been slow to address false news on its service. The problem may be less the company or product, and more WhatsApp the idea.
Should the world worry about WhatsApp? Has it become a virulent new force in global misinformation and political trickery?
Or, rather, should the world rejoice about WhatsApp? After all, hasn’t it provided a way for people everywhere to communicate securely with encrypted messages, beyond the reach of government surveillance?
These are deep and complicated questions. But the answer to all of them is simple: Yes.
In recent months, the messaging app, which is owned by Facebook and has more than 1.5 billion users worldwide, has raised frightening new political and social dynamics. In Brazil, which is in a bruising national election campaign, WhatsApp has become a primary vector for conspiracy theories and other political misinformation. WhatsApp played a similar role in Kenya’s election last year. In India this year, false messages about child kidnappers went viral on WhatsApp, leading to mob violence that has killed dozens of people.
