India has asked its telecom operators to find ways of blocking applications such as Facebook and messaging app WhatsApp in the case of misuse, according to a document seen by reporters.
India has over the past few months intensified efforts to crack down on mass message forwards after it found that people were using social media and messaging apps to spread rumors and stoke public anger.
WhatsApp in particular has faced the wrath of Indian regulators after false messages circulated on the messaging platform led to a series of lynchings and mob beatings across the country.
The Indian Department of Telecommunications last month asked Indian telecom service providers, as well as mobile and Internet industry bodies, to “explore various possible options” to block such apps.
“You are ... requested to explore various possible options and confirm how the Instagram/Facebook/Whatsapp/Telegram and such other mobile apps can be blocked on Internet,” said the government letter dated July 18.
Facebook Inc, which owns both WhatsApp and photo-sharing platform Instagram, declined to comment.
Telegram did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A source at the department said the letter was aimed at finding ways to block such apps during “emergency situations.”
“There is a need for a reasonable, good solution to protect national security,” said the official, who declined to be named.
India is WhatsApp’s biggest market with more than 200 million users.
It has said people in India forward more messages, photographs and videos than in any other country.
Following calls from the government to stem the platform’s misuse, WhatsApp has moved to deter mass message forwards and launched an advertising campaign to educate consumers.
WhatsApp last month said that message forwards would be limited to five chats at a time, whether among individuals or groups, adding that it would remove the quick forward button placed next to media messages.
Meanwhile, India’s federal police has begun probing Cambridge Analytica Ltd’s misuse of Facebook user data, which New Delhi suspects included information on Indian users.
Separately, India plans to roll out state-of-the-art 5G telecom services in the next four years, a senior official said, as the nation rushes to catch up with its Asian peers.
“We are not there yet,” Indian Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said in an interview in New Delhi, adding that a complete rollout of 5G would be done by 2022. “5G won’t be driven by supply, it’ll be driven by demand and the rest of industry needs to wake up to this.”
The South Asian nation, traditionally a laggard while embracing the latest technology in telecommunications, would follow South Korea, Japan and China, where 5G service is to be offered within the next two years.
The high-speed and low-latency service would help Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Digital India” plan, which seeks to broaden Internet access, and a smart cities initiative.
“If we want smart cities, clearly we need smart infrastructure for it,” Sundararajan said, adding that some early-stage projects might start rolling out as early as 2020.
India’s telecom regulator last week proposed floor prices for auctioning spectrum dedicated for 5G rollout, although the auction dates have yet to be announced.
As part of the rollout, India is aiming to increase its fiber backbone from the current 1.5 million kilometers to 2.5 million kilometers by 2022.
A denser fiber network would help operators gear up for speedier content-heavy 5G services and move away from a discount-led battle for market share under way after upstart Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd debuted with 4G services and offered free voice calls in 2016.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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