> The real problem here is that these services (twitter, fb, whatsapp, etc.) are designed for use by educated, urban people who know the basics of tech. And they are then marketed to uneducated people in remote areas to reach growth metric targets that Zuck and co can fling around at their next meeting.

I'm deeply disappointed that your comment is on the top in this discussion! As one of the "educated and urban" people, I take umbrage at this completely ridiculous and nonsensical statement. The fact that you can even make such a statement as an "educated and urban" person says a lot about the pathetic thinking in urban circles. FWIW, I have seen many so called "educated and urban" people also falling for various WhatsApp scams and fake news. While knowledge of technology may be poorer among uneducated people "in remote areas", it's not unique to them alone. You'd know that urban dwellers aren't immune by any means to these things if you had followed the news on lynchings and other mob attacks in cities.

Before you start arguing further, are you even aware how many urban people fall for all the sensational and fake debates on TV that are just meant to get ratings up, create controversies and tensions? Where is your (or anyone's) focus or acknowledgment on those?

Not really. Almost all of WhatsApp related lynchings are from villages. The OP's point is that one app cannot fit all. To give you one silly point to understand; These are the people who are online for the first time. They still are in the 'click here to talk to online hotties in your area' level scam. A regular internet user would know that this is fake. Not them!

Patently false and just a way to whitewash the crime. Here are lynching/mob attack examples from Indian cities:-

1. Gurgaon : https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/muslim-meat-selle...

2. Hyderabad: https://www.firstpost.com/india/mob-lynching-telangana-polic...

3. Jaipur: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/25-year-old-...

4. Chennai: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/two-beaten-in-chenna...

5. Ahemdabad: https://www.news18.com/news/india/woman-beggar-lynched-on-su...

I specifically said almost. Look at the number of lynchings and count how many in cities. Even in cities it's not in the upper sections of the society. That's the point

I don't think we have to limit to India either. Americans used to lynch African Americans based on false crimes. Germans thought Jews as Boogeyman enough to conduct a genocide. It is human psychology, not just "poor illiterate third wolders"

He's saying uneducated in the context of technology (pretty much in those exact words). This means they don't know that what they are seeing in WhatsApp is fake and/or taken out of context. They don't know about common scams, or which sources are trustworthy/reputable. They don't know where to look to find out this information, either.

Sure there are plenty of people like that everywhere you look, but the proportion of them in urban areas is much lower and as such the probability of them finding each other and banding together for acts like this are much lower too.

There is a difference between an individual falling for a scam and a lynch mob. In the individual's situation they may not talk about to anyone, if they do many would be told it is a scam and wouldn't get scammed. In the story they are talking about it with others and there is no one saying "it's a scam/fake" so they reinforce their beliefs rather than have them challenged.

>FWIW, I have seen many so called "educated and urban" people also falling for various WhatsApp scams and fake news

How many have you seen beating people into a bloody dead pulp over a rumor?

It was basic savagery in these people that got those poor devils killed, not WhatsApp.

You're making an awful lot of assumptions of both "educated, urban people" and "uneducated people in remote areas". We're all human and we all fall for these kinds of myths, just different ones.

Just look at "red pilling". Even with university level education it's easy to fall for various forms of propaganda, especially when it's "just the facts". White supremacists will happily cite "factual" crime statistics to nudge you into the direction of race realism and it takes conscious effort to understand that even if the numbers are 100% authentic that doesn't mean you can derive any useful solution if you just stop at "crime == black".

Everyone believes their life experience or education or "street smarts" means they're rational thinkers and can't be fooled. Then they get fooled. If we're lucky they realize it eventually. If not, they end up killing people.

One word: Pizzagate

My parents are far from being uneducated, but even they believe that any forward sent through WhatsApp is actually from the authority figure mentioned in the message.

Messages usually exploit this by mentioning how "XYZ warning" is according to scientists at NASA/MIT/IIT. My parents - who are both in their 70s - believe that these messages actually originated from NASA/MIT, etc.

I don't know how to fight this. I've tried explaining it to my parents yet they don't get it.

I can't even imagine how hard it would be to dispel these myths and beliefs among uneducated people.

The only way to stop this quick is to remove forwarding systems. If people have to make some non trivial effort to share stuff, that effort and time will be saved only for important stuff. No will spend time typing all this click bait for every single recipient.

We can try education but that will take at least a generation or two to take effect.

This is a problem that can take care of itself if left alone. It's resolvable only with experience. If not, we'll enable worse problems - oppressive governments.

I remember when first got online, I fell for every "make money online scheme." The experience thought me to subconsciously / automatically ignore them.

Rather than spend unnecessary resources on a technical solution or filter, lets inoculate them.

FAKE NEWS INOCULATION

Create more ridiculous rumors that can easily be debunked.

WhatsApp and other platforms can randomly spam their users with these lies and at the end of the message, write - its a joke, April fool or whatever.

With this, we'll get to nirvana in half the time, with 10% effort and resource.

> WhatsApp and other platforms can randomly spam their users with these lies and at the end of the message, write - its a joke, April fool or whatever.

I worry that would have the opposite effect - it would train people to look for that, then assume messages that _don't_ have it are real.

I just saw your message, but this is a brilliant idea.. assuming you can get people to finish watching to the end, so it doesn't backfire!

I could also imagine gamifying... tie the Report button to in-store credit or some kind of "debunker" badge, to reward people guessing that videos are hoaxes.

You’re right, but the problem is not with those apps. Before that, all that garbage was forwarded through e-mails.

My dad used to drive me crazy forwarding hoaxes. But in his case, it was because he knew it will, and found it amusing. As he told me « I only forward you a 10th of what I receive ! »

That’s a bit of a heavy club. I forward dozens of messages every day and it would really suck to lose these features in software because some psychos are misusing it. Why not root out and eliminate the psychos?

Agreed. The only way is to restrict the virality. You can still retain the original intent of the feature by allowing single forwards (simply tag forwarded messages and don't allow them to be forwarded).

Try making a similar video yourself and sending it to them?

Even better, send them one from a power they absolutely trust telling them to disregard all other messages.

These "unsophisticated" people in India love their kids as people do everywhere and don't want them to get kidnapped and gang raped. Which does seem to happen an awful lot and can be read about in old media newspapers every day.

Instead of blaming WhatsApp maybe the Indian government can start to make people feel safe.

I must point out that in most cases child abuse happens inside families. A stranger kidnapping a child is a rather rare occurrence. Prevention, giving kids a chance to get help, ban of child-marriages etc will help, tough laws and hard punishment will not.

I am well aware of that, my country spends billions every year on child protection and it barely makes a dent it seems. But this is India were public safety is lacking and kidnapping is not so rare. And instead of doing the hard thing we are here talking about WhatsApp.

So they lynch 5 strangers on the off chance they're criminals?

OP was not saying that "unsophisticated" people in India don't love their kids and want them to be gang raped.

> Combine this with the fact that the videos hit the base instincts of humanity (safety, especially of your children) and you have a recipe for disaster.

The Pizzagate gunman is from a supposedly educated country. Let's not pretend that this problem only affects faraway villagers. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/06/22/533941689...

Seen this first hand with a good friends brother in Kashmir reposting ketchup is made from all kinds of gross stuff except tomatoes.