WhatsApp has been facing a big problem of receiving unsolicited calls, particularly in India. To address this issue, the messaging platform began testing a feature to detect spam calls and has worked together with Truecaller. In order to enhance their efforts, WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta, has now disclosed some backend modifications that are expected to lower the rate of spam calls in India which is great.
WhatsApp is taking proactive steps to tackle the issue of spam calls in India by enhancing its artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) systems which can detect unauthorized and unwanted calls. This will prevent spammers and telemarketers from using the platform to harass and commit fraudulent acts which has increased a lot recently. Given that millions of users in India regularly use WhatsApp to communicate and share information, this is a significant move in terms of Whatsapp. According to a WhatsApp spokesperson, the company is already a leader in protecting user safety through end-to-end encryption and various safety tools like Block & Report feature and many more. Nevertheless, spammers and scammers are finding new ways to scam users, such as international scam calls which is happening recently. Spam calls have become a serious problem in India, with users receiving up to 17 spam calls per day which needed to be addressed badly. WhatsApp’s back-end fix is expected to reduce spam call instances by 50%, although it may take some time to eliminate them completely. Users will not need to take any action on their end as this will be implemented automatically. The Indian government has also highlighted the issue and directed telecom providers like Jio to use AI to eliminate telemarketing and spam calls.