Cheap handsets and low mobile data costs have helped India become WhatsApp’s biggest market, boasting more than 200 million active users. Yet while many use it simply to message loved ones or colleagues, group chats are proving to be fertile ground for political content and ‘fake news’.

Apple has launched a privacy-focused ad to air during the World Series. It comes as people are becoming better informed about their personal data and how it’s managed, leading big tech companies to get proactive about winning back trust from an increasingly skeptical consumer base.

How does religion shape consumer decisions in India? Why is cash still king despite rapid digitisation? And how are young people grappling with the idea of inclusivity? This Cultural Snapshot uses local stats and case studies to explore behavioural norms shared by Indian people in 2018.

The digitisation of India is drastically impacting how people shop, communicate, and entertain themselves. But with dark social platforms unleashing a tide of misinformation and the government pushing to centralise personal data, web users are quickly realising the dark side of connectivity.