WhatsApp’s new update takes a step to prevent the flow of fake news or misinformation: Do you know that most of the fake news of the world is regulated over WhatsApp? Yes, we all have encountered that. Even we all have received such messages that spread fake news and most of the users fall for it. In past 3 to 5 years, these kinds of activities have increased over the social networking app. So, to stop the misuse of the social networking site, WhatsApp is going to take a step or you can say it is starting a war on the misinformation that are often regulated over the app.
WhatsApp’s new feature to curb fake news is on the way
WhatsApp has launched a new setting recently for group users and now it is working on a new feature that will eventually help in blocking the “frequently forwarded” messages over the WhatsApp. Side by side, WhatsApp is working on 2 more features that will enable the user to know that how many times the message has been forwarded.
The two new features that we will be seeing in the new beta versions are – “Forwarding Info” and “Frequently Forwarded”. These features have actually been rolled out and some of us can see it in the new update of the WhatsApp.
WABetainfo.com (a website that tracks WhatsApp updates) has said that the next beta version of WhatsApp will have a new setting in the groups that will allow users to block “Frequently Forwarded” messages in the group and will reduce the chances of spreading the fake news or misinformation at a high rate. This new setting will only be visible to the group admins of the WhatsApp groups. They are the one who can choose that which message should be blocked and which should not? The messages that will be frequently forwarded will have a tagline over the message and the group admin/admins would be able to counter the messages by blocking them according to their wishes. Now, when messages are blocked by the group admin, the group members won’t be able to send or repeat same message over the WhatsApp group.
This feature will prevent fakenews from spreading but still it can’t completely prevent it but will reduce its speed. One of the drawbacks is that the messages that can be blocked by the admins would be the one that are forwarded from other chats. If any member copies that message and send it to the group through pasting into the chat box, then it will not be considered as a forwarded message but it will be a new message without any tagline. The label of “Frequently forwarded” will only and only appear when the message is forwarded from here and there more than 4 times.
