In yet another example of how some cultures aren't quite ready for technology and connectivity, the Indian government has blamed WhatsApp for 30 lynchings in a few months
A drive to ensure cheap connectivity and easily affordable basic smartphones has meant that a country with some of the lowest literacy rates in the world is a Fake News utopia, as vicious idiots can now engage with eachother and use connected technology to better coordinate senseless murders.
The latest outbreak of insanity was triggered by a (IRONY ALERT!) government video (from Pakistan, but hey, details aren't important) that showed two men on a moped kidnapping a child, and asking people to be vigilant.
Which obviously went viral and encouraged violent, paranoid halfwitted villagers to form lynch mobs and murder people. The most recent incident, which took place on Sunday, saw five agricultural workers killed by a crowd of 40, as 3,000 more people watched.
Other killings connected to the WhatsApp kidnapping video:
April: a man in the southern state of Tamil Nadu is beaten to death by a mob after he is seen aimlessly wandering the streets
May: a 55-year old woman in Tamil Nadu is lynched for giving sweets to children; police arrest 30 people
A man in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh is lynched for speaking Hindi and not the local language
A man in neighbouring Telangana is killed by a mob while entering a mango orchard at night
Another man in Telangana is lynched when visiting a village to see his relatives
A man in the southern city of Bangalore, who had moved there recently, is tied up with rope and beaten to death with cricket bats
A transgender woman is lynched in Hyderabad
June: two men are lynched in north-eastern Assam after stopping their car to ask for directions
A beggar woman from Rajasthan is lynched in Ahmadabad
Two people are killed in two separate incidents of mob violence in Tripura
Indian authorities in one state employed an official to travel to towns and villages in the area, warning against believing the fake news circulating. He was, of course, almost immediately attacked and beaten to death.
This has led to the government actually turning off the internet in the North Eastern region.
And we thought people were stupid on Twitter.
A drive to ensure cheap connectivity and easily affordable basic smartphones has meant that a country with some of the lowest literacy rates in the world is a Fake News utopia, as vicious idiots can now engage with eachother and use connected technology to better coordinate senseless murders.
The latest outbreak of insanity was triggered by a (IRONY ALERT!) government video (from Pakistan, but hey, details aren't important) that showed two men on a moped kidnapping a child, and asking people to be vigilant.
Which obviously went viral and encouraged violent, paranoid halfwitted villagers to form lynch mobs and murder people. The most recent incident, which took place on Sunday, saw five agricultural workers killed by a crowd of 40, as 3,000 more people watched.
Other killings connected to the WhatsApp kidnapping video:
April: a man in the southern state of Tamil Nadu is beaten to death by a mob after he is seen aimlessly wandering the streets
May: a 55-year old woman in Tamil Nadu is lynched for giving sweets to children; police arrest 30 people
A man in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh is lynched for speaking Hindi and not the local language
A man in neighbouring Telangana is killed by a mob while entering a mango orchard at night
Another man in Telangana is lynched when visiting a village to see his relatives
A man in the southern city of Bangalore, who had moved there recently, is tied up with rope and beaten to death with cricket bats
A transgender woman is lynched in Hyderabad
June: two men are lynched in north-eastern Assam after stopping their car to ask for directions
A beggar woman from Rajasthan is lynched in Ahmadabad
Two people are killed in two separate incidents of mob violence in Tripura
Indian authorities in one state employed an official to travel to towns and villages in the area, warning against believing the fake news circulating. He was, of course, almost immediately attacked and beaten to death.
This has led to the government actually turning off the internet in the North Eastern region.
And we thought people were stupid on Twitter.
