New Delhi (Agencies): WhatsApp has rolled out new privacy settings, which includes an invite system for groups. The new features give users more control over which groups they want to join.
Users will now need to approve whether they are interested in joining a group on WhatsApp to which they have been invited.
The new invite system means that users can choose to be added to only groups for which an invite has been sent by their contact. The user will have the option of approving whether to join a group or not, which was not the case before.
A group invite will be sent through private chat and users will have three days to accept it. After three days, the invite expires. The invite will have details like the group name, its description and other group members.
To enable the feature, users can head to the Settings menu in WhatsApp and then tap Account > Privacy > Groups. There are three options to choose from: “Nobody,” “My Contacts,” or “Everyone.”
If a user selects “Nobody”, then they will need to approve before being added into any group. With the “My Contacts” option, only contacts in the user’s address book can add them to groups.
The new privacy settings have started rolling out to some users and will be more widely available in the coming weeks. Users will need to update their WhatsApp app to the latest version to access this feature.
The invite system was long-awaited as users will now be able to decline being added to groups they do not wish to join. The feature will also help curb the spread of misinformation on the platform, especially fake news that is targeted to a large number of people at once through groups.
Fact-checking service to fight fake news added
Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, to curb the spread of misinformation, WhatsApp on Tuesday launched a fact-checking service in India.
According to Reuters, the internet-based instant messaging platform in a press release said that it has tied up with Indian startup Proto and two other organisations, Dig Deeper Media and Meedan, for the service called Checkpoint Tipline.
Users can send messages, including images, video and text in English, Hindi, Telugu, Bengali and Malayalam. The tip line will classify the messages as true, false, misleading or disputing. The number is 919643000888.
This initiative is one of those few taken by WhatsApp, ahead of the elections, which will be held from April 11 to May 19. Earlier, the platform was in news when it tried its best to stop spread of misinformation. It had imposed a limit of five on the number of times a message could be forwarded on WhatsApp.
WhatsApp owner Facebook on Monday had announced that it had removed more than 1,000 pages from India and Pakistan that it claimed were displaying ‘coordinated inauthentic behaviour’. Several pro-Bharatiya Janata Party and pro-Congress pages too were removed in the process, it claimed.
