The simple change of name of a WhatsApp group has been valid so that this application has blocked the account of thousands of users worldwide under the suspicion of exchanging child pornography . This is apparently a viral challenge that takes advantage of the latest changes in instant messaging service policies to combat inappropriate and criminal uses of your app.
The first blockades of this nature that were recorded were in the city of Corrientes , in northern Argentina, where the accounts of more than thirty young people were suspended earlier this month.
As those affected by EL MUNDO explained, some Correntino boys learned that by using certain terms related to child pornography in the names of the groups, WhatsApp automatically blocked the accounts of all its members. So they decided to change the name of groups they shared with acquaintances for fun. A joke in bad taste that made the shadow of pedophilia fall on all of them without proof, as well as preventing them from using the instant messaging service for several days.
"We had a group of former schoolmates that we barely used . One of the boys came in the early hours of last Friday, October 4 - and changed the name to one that was related to child pornography. In the morning all those who we were in the group we had our WhatsApp blocked , except him, because he left as soon as he made the change, "explains one of those affected by the joke, 20 years old.
This joke has been repeated throughout the world. On Twitter there are many users who have denounced this fact and have expressed their complaints before an unfair blockade of which they are not guilty and that can affect anyone, since it is only necessary that the inappropriate person has our number and puts us in one of those groups
Despite being a global phenomenon, the case of Corrientes is especially significant, not only because it was one of the first places where it was known to occur, but also because it has affected a large number of its citizens, many of them minors old . Up to six schools in the city bathed by the Paraná River have seen their students fall under the suspicion of pedophilia , which has forced the Correntina Police to intervene.
"We have registered about 30 complaints for this. It has been investigated and it has not been detected that child pornography content has been shared , so we understand that it is only a joke. And, although it has had the consequences that we already know, judicially it is not known You can do nothing , so they will not be sanctioned, "explains Commissioner Héctor Fabián Rodríguez, of the Complex Crimes Division of the Corrientes Police, to EL MUNDO.
WhatsApp, on the other hand, has not clarified why it blocked the accounts of all the members of the affected groups, instead of just doing so with that of the user who had changed the name . And it is that the application does not give details of its suspension policy or the processes it carries out to discern whether it has restricted access to a user in a justified way or not.
Lock and recovery
When the application notified those affected by Corrientes that it had blocked their accounts for violating their usage policies, many of them sent a complaint to WhatsApp technical support . The company responded that it had reason to maintain the suspension, without specifying whether it was conducting an investigation or if at any time they could regain access.
Finally, after several days of uncertainty, during this week the majority of those affected in the Argentine city have been regaining access to their accounts . WhatsApp notified all of them that they had lifted the suspension in an email in which they also warned them not to violate the rules again , although without specifying what rules they had violated exactly.
The lack of transparency in these blocking processes has caused many of those affected to fear that, despite the fact that this incident has been resolved, their name is associated in the Facebook records with pedophilia . That is why many have come to the Corrientes Police to record what happened and clean their name at least before the authorities.
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Know more- Argentina
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- Pedophilia
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