WhatsApp, the free and encrypted service best known for keeping family and friends in touch. Whatsapp in India has achieved notoriety in for completely different reasons. Over 30 people have been killed in one year by vigilante mobs acting in response to rumours spread on the Facebook-owned platform. The pace of killings is increasing dramatically: over 20 have been killed since May this year alone.
Typically, the stories are about ‘child-lifters’ or organ harvesters in rural locations, and those who are attacked are outsiders such as transgender people, those with mental-health issues, beggars or strangers to the locality.
