Centre to form panel to check rising internet, WhatsApp-based spam calls

The Centre is looking at creating a new panel for curbing spam calls and draft guidelines, especially for phone calls made over the internet and WhatsApp, amid rising pesky, promotional, or unsolicited calls received by consumers. A proposal to set up the panel was made at an inter-ministerial meeting chaired by Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh on Thursday, the Consumers Affairs Department said in a post on X.

Alongside the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), the meeting was also attended by three private sector telcos – Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.