Fake news in the equities markets

Over the last few months, markets regulator SEBI has been chasing a set of serious cases of insider trading involving leaks of vital financial information over WhatsApp about a few leading stocks. News stories give the impression that while they have conducted raids and seized plenty of evidence, they have hit a wall because of the strong encryption that WhatsApp offers, and Facebook's unwillingness to cooperate. Apparently, the data that social apps capture is just for allowing the companies to target ads, and not for catching criminals. Anyhow, it certainly does seem that genuine advanced information about financial results has been circulating over WhatsApp because the regulator has directed these companies to investigate the matter and to tighten internal controls, some of them being Tata Motors, HDFC Bank and Bata. While the leak of insider information is a serious matter, a far greater problem is the unchecked mass circulation o