WhatsApp has a large number of users worldwide which makes it hard for content shared on the platform to be moderated. Since it is the world’s largest messaging app, it has its fair share of fake news and misinformation that is usually circulated throughout the platform. In turn, users in developing countries like India, who have just gotten their hands on instant messaging, fall prey to such trade. WhatsApp, in an attempt to alleviate this situation, has built features that inform users when they receive forwarded messages and has put a limit to the number of times a message can be forwarded. Now, WhatsApp is introducing another feature to uphold its privacy policy by giving users control over which groups they wanna be a part of.
Users will now have different options for choosing who can add them to WhatsApp groups. WhatsApp said that this feature will be available to all the users. Users can head to the Privacy Settings on WhatsApp and choose among “Anyone”, “My contact”, and “Nobody” for who can add them to a group. As the name suggests, choosing ‘Anyone’ will allow anyone on WhatsApp to add the user to a group while choosing ‘My contacts’ would reserve that privilege to the user’s contacts. Lastly, choosing ‘Nobody’ will disallow anyone to add the user to a WhatsApp group.
Admins will be able to send users invites in the form of a direct message, clicking on which will add the user to that particular group. They will also be able to add a custom message to the invite. Clicking on ‘Join group’ would allow users to get an overview of the group and its members, according to which the user can opt out or opt in.
Apart from that, WhatsApp has also released its ”Checkpoint Tipline”, where users can check the authenticity of information that they receive, as the messaging app looks to remove fake news circulation on its platform ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
“Launched by Proto, an India-based media skilling startup, this tipline will help create a database of rumors to study misinformation during elections for Checkpoint – a research project commissioned and technically assisted by WhatsApp,” the Facebook-owned company said in a statement.
The statement added that starting Tuesday, users in India can submit misinformation or rumors received by them to the Checkpoint Tipline on WhatsApp (+91-9643-000-888).
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