A majority of respondents in a survey said they will not use WhatsApp payment features and may discontinue business chat if the app shares information with Facebook and third parties, according to a survey. The survey -- conducted around WhatsApp new proposed policy across the country covering over 17,000 respondents -- found that five per cent users have deleted the app, while 22 per cent claimed to have reduced using the mobile messaging platform.
Over 23.87 lakh Indian accounts were banned by WhatsApp in July.
Police said the message was sent allegedly by a person named Shahid on the WhatsApp number of Dial-112 helpline.
In a recent operation, Bihar Police busted a fraudulent scheme operating under the guise of 'All India Pregnant Job Service', which deceived men with promises of substantial payments for impregnating childless women.
The chargesheet in the murder case of Santosh Deshmukh, sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district, reveals horrific details of the torture he endured at the hands of his abductors. The accused recorded 15 videos, clicked eight photos, and even made two video calls, documenting the brutality. Deshmukh was abducted and killed in December for attempting to foil an extortion bid on an energy company. Seven men, including a close aide of state minister Dhananjay Munde, have been arrested so far.
The city's traffic control room on Thursday received the Rs 5 crore threat message on its WhatsApp helpline, police earlier said.
"The initial plan was to dispose of the body parts in a secluded location, but the duo eventually decided to keep it inside a large blue drum, filling it with cement and sand," said SP Singh.
WhatsApp has scrapped its May 15 deadline for users to accept its controversial privacy policy update and said not accepting the terms will not lead to deletion of accounts.
Link your UPI app to a separate bank account or wallet that has only a limited sum.
A Mumbai court has extended the police remand of the boyfriend of an Air India pilot, who allegedly committed suicide, until December 2. The police are seeking to retrieve deleted WhatsApp chats between the two from the boyfriend's mobile phone, believing the chats could contain crucial information about the pilot's death. The boyfriend, Aditya Pandit, was arrested and charged with abetment of suicide after the pilot, Srishti Tuli, was found dead in her apartment on Monday.
A new cyber fraud known as 'pig butchering scam' or 'investment scam' has emerged, targeting unemployed youths, housewives, students, and needy people who are made to lose large sums of money daily, according to the latest annual report of the Union home ministry.
Mumbai Police on Saturday received a message threatening to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an official said.
rediffGURU Major Inderpaul Singh (retd) offers career guidance and helps students and individuals handle challenges in their professional lives.
A Dalit student at Delhi University's Shaheed Bhagat Singh College has filed a police complaint alleging that its principal hurled casteist slurs and assaulted him after he was falsely accused of sending obscene messages on the official WhatsApp group of his department. The student, a third-year BA Hindi Honours student, claimed the incident caused him mental trauma and defamation. He has also written to the University Vice-Chancellor and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, seeking action against those involved. The principal has denied the allegations, claiming the student was being manipulated by a faculty member against whom an inquiry is underway.
Former MLA Zeeshan Siddique has named several builders and politicians in his statement to police, alleging their involvement in the murder of his father and NCP leader Baba Siddique. Zeeshan claims that developers were in frequent contact with his father regarding redevelopment projects and that one builder used abusive language towards his father during a meeting. He also alleges a false case was registered against him for opposing a redevelopment project. This information is part of a 4,500-page chargesheet filed by police in connection with Baba Siddique's murder.
Facebook-owned messaging platform WhatsApp has been granted permission to double its user base for the payments service to 40 million by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). WhatsApp has a total user base of 400 million and the development will help the platform compete better with entrenched rivals like Google Pay and Phone Pe. The US-based company had been eyeing the payments opportunity for long, but data localisation requirements had initially led to a delay.
UPI-related frauds have accounted for a cumulative loss of Rs 2,145 crore across 2.7 million reported incidents.
Stay firm yet respectful, and over time, they will have to adjust, advises rediffGURU Kanchan Rai, founder of the Let Us Talk Foundation.
Ordering groceries, vegetables and daily essentials is just a WhatsApp away as billionaire Mukesh Ambani's e-commerce platform JioMart taps into the popular messaging app to scale up online business in its fight for dominance in the giant Indian retail market with Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart. Ambani's twin children, Akash and Isha gave a preview of the ordering at Meta's second edition of the Fuel for India event on Wednesday. A new 'tap and chat' option allows users to order groceries through WhatsApp.
Users well-versed in privacy laws or those concerned with their data would be worried; it could well be that many of us have already accepted the end user agreement without ado, points out Ashish Narsale.
'I am determined now to celebrate all festivals together.' 'People don't respond much when you try to convince them by talking about principles of secularism etc. But if we revive our shared cultural practices, specially food, we may get a better response.'
Meta Platforms Inc, the parent company of WhatsApp, will partner with Reliance JioMart for a service where WhatsApp users can buy groceries on the messaging platform from the Indian retail firm. Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer (CEO) of Meta Platforms, said in a Facebook post, "[I am] Excited to launch our partnership with JioMart in India. "This is our first-ever end-to-end shopping experience on WhatsApp--people can now buy groceries from JioMart right in a chat." "Business messaging is an area with real momentum and chat-based experiences like this will be the go-to way people and businesses communicate in the years to come," he said in an announcement coinciding with the annual general Meeting (AGM) of Reliance Industries the parent company of JioMart.
The chargesheet filed at the Ernakulam judicial magistrate court claims that there is digital evidence against Mukesh in the case.
From premium electric motorcycles to mass-market scooters, manufacturers are rapidly expanding their portfolios to capture a larger share of the booming market.
'The startup ecosystem, the government, and the owners of large pools of Indian capital need to actively support the creation of these local champions, not pull down the teams that are trying hard to get there.'
To contact MyGov Corona Helpdesk chatbot, citizens can save the WhatsApp number +91 9013151515 on their phones; start a chat by typing 'Book Slot' and send it to the number.
The Indian government on Tuesday posed 14 questions to WhatsApp on its "invasive" changes in Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
'We are aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We are working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologise for any inconvenience,' a Facebook spokesperson said.
The outage raised broader concerns about the dependency on a few large tech companies controlling critical platforms.
The returning officer for the New Delhi assembly segment has directed the police to investigate an incident of Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Parvesh Verma allegedly distributing shoes to electors at a Valmiki temple in violation of the poll code.
Uber and WhatsApp on Thursday announced a partnership that will allow people in the country to book a ride via WhatsApp - a global-first initiative by the ride-hailing platform. With this integration, riders will no longer need to download or use the Uber app. Everything - from user registration, booking a ride and getting a trip receipt - will be managed within the WhatsApp chat interface, a statement said. The integration is a global-first for Uber, and it will make booking a ride as easy as sending a WhatsApp message, it added.
The new IT rules -- which came into effect last year -- require large digital platforms (with over 50 lakh users) to publish compliance reports every month, mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken.
A Haryana man who paid Rs 35 lakh to agents to facilitate his journey to the USA via the 'dunki' route was deported back to India after being apprehended in the US. The man, Pankaj Rawat, has filed a complaint with the Gujarat police accusing the agents of human trafficking and cheating.
"WhatsApp is an industry leader in preventing abuse, among end-to-end encrypted messaging services. Over the years, we have consistently invested in Artificial Intelligence and other state of the art technology, data scientists and experts, and in processes, in order to keep our users safe on our platform," a WhatsApp spokesperson said.
The England Cricket Board has refrained from issuing NOCs to all-format players to play in the Pakistan Super League
A government school principal was arrested in Kota after he allegedly deleted Ganesh Chaturthi greetings posted on the school WhatsApp group, which triggered protests by people of the village, officials said on Sunday.
Messaging platform WhatsApp on Wednesday said it has rolled out a pilot program across 500 villages across Karnataka and Maharashtra, aimed at empowering villagers with access to digital payments through 'payments on WhatsApp'. The announcement was made at Fuel For India 2021 - Meta's annual event in India. WhatsApp India Head Abhijit Bose said the pilot aims to effect a behavioral transformation to digital payments at the grassroots.
Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday alleged the Delhi Police prevented the screening of a documentary exposing the 'secrets' and 'conspiracies' behind the arrest of his party leaders.
FOMO-driven investing is reshaping India's stock market. Swati Saxena explains how social media hype fuels risky bets and how to protect your wealth.
A day after getting permission to raise its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) user base to 100 million, WhatsApp on Thursday said it has plans to make significant investments in 'payments on WhatsApp' across India, including India-first features and driving adoption. The company, however, did not share details of its plans. The Meta-owned messaging app got its first greenlight for its payments service from the National Payments Council of India (NPCI) in November 2020 with a cap of 20 million users. A year later, in November 2021, the limit was raised to 40 million users.
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