Thousands of Illegal Gun Sale Messages Found on WhatsApp Groups in India
Summary
Researchers uncovered a thriving illegal gun trade on WhatsApp in India, with over 8,000 messages across 234 public groups advertising firearms, exploiting WhatsApp's lax monitoring despite policies prohibiting such sales.
Key Points
- Researchers found over 8,000 messages advertising firearms across 234 publicly accessible WhatsApp groups in India, violating Meta's policies prohibiting firearm sales.
- Some WhatsApp group names and descriptions contained references to gun sales, which can be monitored by WhatsApp but the company is not doing so.
- Gun sellers in India are using WhatsApp's business accounts to conduct illegal firearm trade, despite the platform's policies prohibiting such activities.