‘WhatsApp in the World’ by Sahana Udupa & Herman Wasserman

WhatsApp in the World, edited by Prof. Sahana Udupa from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and Prof. Herman Wasserman from the CINIA and the Stellenbosch University Department of Journalism.

WhatsApp in the World features field-based and multidisciplinary research, including contributions from practitioners at leading fact-checking institutions on how encrypted instant messaging services play a critical role in shaping extreme speech and disinformation ecosystems in different regions of the world.

From election manipulations in South Africa and Nigeria to Russian diaspora activism in Europe to WhatsApp use as an everyday infrastructure in Brazilian favelas and among nationalists in India, this volume demonstrates how many core features of WhatsApp—from disappearing messages and quick forwards to group chats and calls—allow for the amplification of disinformation and extreme speech.

Highlighting complex political dynamics on the ground, it also introduces the significant methodological challenges of studying encrypted messaging services, providing critical pathways to address issues around ethical and technical issues of data protection, privacy, and confidentiality.

You can purchase the book via New York Press.