WhatsApp Is Still The Go-To App For Messaging In India Despite Fake News Concerns

Aadhya Khatri - Apr 19, 2019


WhatsApp Is Still The Go-To App For Messaging In India Despite Fake News Concerns

More than 70% of respondents in the survey still trust WhatsApp with their personal information

WhatsApp has been some people's favorite platform to spread fake news and unreliable rumors. However, it seems like these wrongdoings do not have a significant effect on its popularity in India.

Recently, AudienceNet, a research firm on social matters and consumers released a report called Social Media/Messaging Platforms In India, shedding some light on Indian’s preference when it comes to a platform for messaging, and in the report, WhatsApp is still the dominant name.

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WhatsApp is the most popular platform to message in India

To gather data for the report, the company has asked 1,520 individuals older than 18 and living in towns and cities. Half of the said that they went to WhatsApp to connect with their friends and family while about 87% use it a handful of time in a day.

The main reason people so on the platform is to chat with their friends, but a large number of users said that they choose WhatsApp to announce important events like job changing or a new engagement. Users entrust the platform with their personal and sensitive data, but many others also put parts of their business there. They connect with both local and international customers on the app, and 6 out of 10 respondents said that it had helped them secured more sales.

About the fake news scandal, about 87% of people taking part in the research believed that the company was working hard to tackle the problem. Among the respondents, 78% of them put their trust on the platform to keep their information away from malicious motives. Another 86% thought that encryption was necessary for content on the app.

WhatsApp has been putting its effort into dealing with fake news spreading on the app. With the Lok Sabha Elections looming close, their steps are becoming more critical than ever. One of its solutions is to limit the number of people one user can forward a message to five in turn.

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