These users span across four continents and included diplomats, political dissidents, journalists and senior government officials.
WhatsApp competes with messaging apps like LINE, Viber and Hike in India.
The IT ministry sources said they have received a reply from WhatsApp and are studying it, and that a view on it will be taken soon.
A young Indian man was arrested in Pakistan after illegally crossing the border to meet a Facebook friend he wanted to marry. However, the woman told police she was not interested in marrying him. The man, Badal Babu, was arrested in the Mandi Bahauddin district of Pakistan's Punjab province on December 28. He had crossed the border to meet his Facebook friend, Sana Rani. Rani, in her statement to police, said she had been friends with Babu for the past two-and-a-half years but was not interested in marrying him. Babu's family has appealed to the Indian government to intervene for his release.
A recent research found that the more time people spent on WhatsApp per day, the less lonely they were
Police made an appeal to people to not believe in the audio messages that have surfaced on WhatsApp groups making false claims about the bomb threat that schools in Delhi-NCR received on Wednesday morning.
Atul Subhash, who worked for a private firm in Bengaluru, left behind a 24-page death note, giving extensive details of what he alleged was years long of emotional distress of marital issues; multiple cases filed against him and harassment by his wife, her relatives, and a judge based in Uttar Pradesh, police said.
In his appeal in the HC against the special court order, Aryan Khan said the Narcotics Control Bureau's "interpretation and misinterpretation" of the WhatsApp chats collected from his mobile phone was "wrong and unjustified".
The operations revealed evidence of price and volume manipulation of stocks through the use of platforms like YouTube and WhatsApp.
The Congress on Wednesday criticized the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government for a stampede at the Sangam during the Maha Kumbh, blaming mismanagement and a focus on VIP movement instead of common devotees for the tragic incident. Rahul Gandhi called for reining in "VIP culture" and improving arrangements for devotees. Congress leaders expressed condolences to the families of the deceased and demanded action to prevent such incidents in the future.
Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus on Thursday said it plans to invest up to Rs 6,000 crore in its India business over the next three years. The company plans to make the investment in tranches of Rs 2,000 crore annually for the next three years under 'Project Starlight'. OnePlus on Thursday announced an annual investment of Rs 2,000 crore over the next three years to accelerate innovations in products and services in India.
Several of WhatsApp's early features were designed keeping Indian conditions in mind, given the choppy connectivity and existence of devices of different makes. In fact, India was the first country where WhatsApp rolled out in-app video calling services in 2016, ahead of its global launch, underlining the importance of the market for the company.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday raided the premises of businessman Raj Kundra, the husband of actor Shilpa Shetty, and some others as part of a money laundering case linked to alleged distribution of pornographic content. Around 15 locations in Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh are being searched. The probe pertains to the role of suspects in alleged distribution of pornographic content through mobile applications and other modes.
Sebi penalised Shruti Vishal Vora - found guilty of leaking price sensitive information related to financial results of Wipro, Asian Paints and Mindtree, and Parthiv Dalal for similar action in case of Wipro earnings.
Brought up in penury, the sensational Yashasvi Jaiswal says he now uses the experience gained from those difficult days as ammunition to conquer the battles on and off the field.
The latest move comes as countries, including India, are initiating measures to tackle the spread of rumours, fake news and misinformation on social media platforms.
The advisory depicted the logos of social media platforms like WhatsApp and Skype to showcase that calls for such scams are made using such platforms.
The Kerala high court has observed that no religious belief stands above the Constitution.
Will the Draft UGC Regulations 2025 undermine our universities? Unlikely, notes Professor Mohammad Sajjad, citing how AMU has utilised its exceptional autonomy.
A study published in the journal Environment and Planning F has revealed that cameras and drones originally intended for conservation activities in Corbett National Park are being misused by local government officials and men to surveil women without consent. The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Cambridge, found that forest rangers intentionally flew drones over local women to scare them and prevent them from collecting natural resources, despite their legal right to do so. The researchers argue that these technologies, deployed under the guise of wildlife monitoring, are being used to intimidate and exert power over women, invading their privacy and altering their behavior in the forest. This has had a negative impact on women's mental health, with one woman interviewed for the study being killed in a tiger attack.
It was a triangular session, with the judge hearing the case from Nagercoil, petitioner's counsel V Raghavachari at one place and advocate-general R Shanmugasundaram, at another place, in the city.
The majority of these calls originate from foreign-based gangsters or their associates, using Voice Over Internet Protocol or international phone numbers, they said.
'Over 200 million Indians use WhatsApp, including many who use no other form of social media.' 'WhatsApp has been used to propagate all sorts of fake news and misinformation.' 'In the past six months or so, WhatsApp has been the core enabler of many instances of lynching,' points out Devangshu Datta.
Data processing compliance is the main reason behind the delay. The government, on several occasions, has made it clear that Indian financial data needs to be stored exclusively onshore and if it is processed outside, it needs to be brought back in 24 hours.
After at least 50 women got in touch with me, I realised that housewives had suddenly discovered that WhatsApp could give them a whole new profession, says Keya Sarkar.
The threat message was received on the Mumbai traffic police helpline and an officer read it around midnight, the official said.
Andhra Pradesh Police are searching for film director Ram Gopal Varma after he failed to appear for an investigation regarding his alleged offensive social media posts against Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and others. Varma's lawyer claimed that the director would cooperate with the investigation via "digital mode" as "digital policing is prevalent all over India now." However, police have stated that Varma was given ample time and has failed to show up for the investigation twice. The police are combing every place where Varma is suspected to be present.
The spyware gained access to a person's phone even if the attacker's WhatsApp call wasn't answered. The calls also often disappeared from call logs, and affected Android, iPhone and Tizen-based phones.
The home secretary is scheduled to brief the panel on home affairs on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir in the next meeting.
India's e-commerce market alone is projected to reach $200 billion by 2026, making it a prime industry for ambitious entrepreneurs, explains rediffGURU Harsh Bharwani.
Facebook-owned messaging platform said Indian journalists and human right activists were among those globally spied upon by unnamed entities using an Israeli sypware Pegasus.
WhatsApp is the factory where data gets collected for Facebook. And, the cost of that data collection is insignificant as against the monetisation happening on the Facebook platform
Tech and startup industry bodies have again pushed back against calls by telecom operators to bring over-the-top (OTT) services under a licensing regime similar to telcos, and open them up to taxation. Ahead of public consultations on the issue later this week, the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Nasscom and the US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), among others, have written to the government arguing against such efforts.
Officials said on Thursday that the force recently issued a circular also asking its troops and other staff to avoid sharing official orders on WhatsApp and desist from discussing and sharing operational matters over social media.
The Kerala police on Tuesday registered a case against IAS officer N Prasanth for allegedly insulting the modesty of a woman journalist by sending her inappropriate stickers over WhatsApp when she reached out to him for an official reaction.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Whitefield, Shivakumar on Tuesday confirmed that Bengaluru-based techie Atul Subhash died by suicide in the early hours of December 9 following harassment from his wife and her family.
Messages sent through Internet-based messaging service providers such as Whatsapp, Signal, and Telegram, as well as those which are encrypted, are understood to be within the Act's ambit.
Waack Girls, that captures the moods of Kolkata, follows an oft-used template. So there's not much novelty to look for in the plot, but the actors are excellent, applauds Deepa Gahlot.
Prohibitory orders banning the assembly of people have been clamped in Nandanagar in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district where tension prevailed over a man allegedly making an obscene gesture towards a teenaged girl, a senior official said on Tuesday.
