WhatsApp is offering rewards for a solution to deal with misinformation in India

• WhatsApp is offering $50,000 to researchers to solve the problem of misinformation.
  
• The initiative is called the ‘WhatsApp Research Awards for Social Science and Misinformation’.
• The recipients can use the amount as they wish, without any restrictions whatsoever.

Facebook hadn’t yet gotten out of the shadow of Cambridge Analytica scandal that its subsidiary, WhatsApp, got embroiled in criticism for spreading fake news. The situation has reached such proportions that the messaging platform’s even offering $50,000 to researchers who specialise is restricting false propaganda, if they can come up with measures to solve the problem.

They’ve even named the contest, the ‘WhatsApp Research Awards for Social Science and Misinformation’. As an added incentive, the prize amount can be used for any cause and is essentially ‘unrestricted’.

This comes after mob lynchings were instigated all over India due to a video that wasn’t even shot in the country. The government of India instructed the company to take responsibility and reprimand the situation to prevent such incidents for occuring again.

That being said, Whatsapp is already testing tools to keep track of message origins. Their most recent update informs users if a post has been forwarded or originally composed. Facebook, in turn, claims that it’s taking several measure to reprimand the situation using technology and has reached out to policy makers as well.