WhatsApp-Reliance Jio representatives perform in a street play during a drive by the two companies to educate users, on the outskirts of Kolkata, India, October 9, 2018. Picture taken October 9, 2018. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri
JAIPUR, India (Reuters) - On a hot morning in India's tourist mecca of Jaipur, an open truck painted in the signature lime-green colours of Facebook's WhatsApp messaging service pulls into a dusty lane, where five men spill out and begin to perform a skit. The event is part of a major grassroots effort by WhatsApp to battle fake news, which has triggered numerous lynchings in a country where 200 million people use the service, more than anywhere else in the world.
The actors soon draw a crowd as the play unveils how spreading misinformation online can stir up mob violence, especially in the countryside, where caste and religious prejudices run deep.
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