How a middle finger emoji landed WhatsApp into trouble, find out what happened
third party image
The notice which was sent to WhatsApp said,"..showing of the middle finger is not only offensive but a highly belligerent, invasive, obscene, lewd gesture." "As per the Indian Penal Code Sections 354 and 509, it is an offence to show obscene, lewd, offensive gestures to females. Use of a lewd, offensive, obscene gesture by anyone is hereby illegal also as aforesaid. As per section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act, 1994 showing of the middle finger is also an offence in Ireland," Singh stated in his notice.
"By offering to use middle finger emoji in your app, you (WhatsApp Inc) are directly abetting the use of offensive, lewd, obscene gesture," the notice said. The notice also threatened to file civil or criminal cases if the app fails to remove it.
Meanwhile, WhatsApp's farewell note for 2017 is not good news for some smartphone users. WhatsApp will stop working on devices running BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, and Windows Phone 8.0 and older from December 31, 2017. The WhatsApp blog post with end-of-life dates clearly mentions that users of BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, and Windows Phone 8.0 and older operating systems will not be able to use the app after December 31, 2017 - less than a week from now.
To recall, WhatsApp had extended support for both platforms in June this year. At the time, WhatsApp had also revealed that the app will stop working for phones running Nokia S40 will be stopped from December 31, 2018. The app will stop working on phones running Android 2.3.7 and older (Gingerbread) will be stopped from February 1, 2020. The messaging app became unavailable on Nokia phones running Symbian S60, from June 30, 2017.
Comments
Post a Comment