Tackling scams, misinformation: Deep dive into Perplexity’s WhatsApp bot proposition

500 million users and counting, that’s the estimated number of WhatsApp users in India (globally, the number hovers around 2 billion), and that’s the barometer of scale and relevance, since no official numbers from Meta are available. For Perplexity, to find a way to be at the fingertips of this user base, is an achievement that is perhaps theoretically matched only by Meta’s own Meta AI. This week, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas announced the Perplexity WhatsApp bot (save +1 833 436-3285 as a contact on your phone) without any subscription, with a rather detailed feature set.