It costs only Rs 1,000 to bypass anti-spam restrictions set by WhatsApp
WhatsApp clones and software tools that cost as little as Rs 1,000 are helping Indian digital marketers and political activists bypass anti-spam restrictions set up by the world’s most popular messaging app, Reuters has found.
The activities highlight the challenges WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, faces in preventing abuse in India, its biggest market with more than 200 million users.
With fervent campaigning in staggered general elections, which concludes on May 19, the demand for such tools has surged, according to digital companies and sources in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its main rival, the Congress party.
After false messages on WhatsApp last year sparked mob lynchings, the company restricted forwarding of a message to only five users. The software tools appear to overcome those restrictions, allowing users to reach thousands of people at once.
Divya Spandana, the social media chief of the Congress, and the BJP’s IT head, Amit Malviya, did not respond requests for comment.
Rohitash Repswal, who owns a digital marketing business in a cramped, residential neighbourhood of New Delhi, said he ran a Rs 1,000 piece of software round-the-clock in recent months to send up to 100,000 WhatsApp messages a day for two BJP members.
“Whatever WhatsApp does, there’s a workaround,” Repswal said during an interview at his small, two-bedroom house.
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