Watch: WhatsApp’s first ever television campaign aims at fighting fake news
The videos are set to be released just before the elections in Rajasthan and Telangana to combat the spread of misinformation.
After growing criticism of its insufficient measures to combat the spread of fake news in India, WhatsApp has turned to television and social media to educate its users.
The Facebook-owned instant messaging application’s latest effort to raise awareness about fake news and harmful rumours is through three ad films for TV, Facebook, and YouTube. The videos are the part of a campaign titled “Share Joy, Not Rumors” and were made available in ten languages so as to reach the diverse user base of WhatsApp.
The films are slated for release just before the state elections in Rajasthan and Telangana.
According to The Next Web, Mumbai agency Taproot Dentsu and the filmmaker Shirsha Guha Thakurta worked on the videos, each of which is based on a real user’s experience.
“We recognise... connecting people can also lead to the spread of misinformation, which has to be confronted,” said Bosco Zubiaga, who led the production of these films. We hope this campaign will help educate people how to stay safe on WhatsApp.”