OAKLAND (US) – When it comes to messaging platform WhatsApp, New Jersey-based tech entrepreneur Arun Bantval is Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s key fake-news watchdog, who keeps an eye on posts about the candidate and his Indian American running mate Kamala Harris.
Messages appearing on WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook Inc, are confidential and cannot be viewed by moderators who police misleading memes, claims and other content. As many as two billion users rely on WhatsApp’s free app.
Bantval, 56, chairs the Biden campaign’s five-member rapid response team that keeps an eye on South Asian voters. They have tracked dozens of concerning messages of unknown origin and crafted about 50 rebuttal graphics and texts spanning the last three months.
His team and similar nonpartisan groups are attempting to fill the WhatsApp’s moderation void by joining bigger groups on the platform and asking community leaders to report incriminating posts and messages.
For campaigns, it is standard procedure to fight fake news on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter has become standard practice for campaigns. Secret messaging apps such as WhatsApp have flown under the radar despite being crucial political forum among middle-aged Indians, Latinos and other immigrant groups.
South Asian voters, mostly Indian Americans, will play a key role in the election in swing states such as Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania where the results will be close and predict the national outcome, according to researchers and nonpartisan voting advocacy groups.
According to a September survey by Carnegie Endowment, 72% of Indian-American voters will support Biden. But South Asian Biden supporters and nonpartisan activists worry that false information on WhatsApp could affect turnout and support.
“There’s just a lot of inaccurate information for an already confusing process,” said Chavi Khanna Koneru, executive director of nonpartisan group North Carolina Asian Americans Together. “And this year is different for everybody because we’re relying on virtual connections more than ever.”
On a daily basis, voters receive hundreds of memes, videos, voicemails and texts comprising greetings, social invitations and political propaganda. Users forward shocking and humorous messages regularly with the sender’s name automatically hidden, making it hard to trace them.
“It’s almost like going viral on Facebook,” Bantval said.
WhatsApp said its role in American politics was small. But political false information on WhatsApp in Brazil and India prompted the service in 2018 to limit recipients when forwarding messages.
WhatsApp also introduced a chatbot that users can message to gain access to fact checks by globally recognised organisations.
WhatsApp also made it clear that when it comes to heavily forwarded messages, users can search the web to find relevant facts.
Republican incumbent Donald Trump’s campaign spokesperson said WhatsApp was not a focus for its social media staff. According to some Indian voters, there are some misleading messages on the app target him over racial justice policies and alleged extramarital affairs.
“There’s more on the Democratic candidates, but there is fake news about the Republican side, too,” said Kannan Srinivasan, an Orlando businessman.
It is not clear if the misinformation spread on WhatsApp is part of an organised effort. Wording and spellings suggest that some authors are Indians.