© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
A new feature on WhatsApp looks to keep users safe by giving them more information about a group before joining it. That means the next time someone you don’t know adds you to a WhatsApp group, you’ll be shown additional details such as who added you, when the group was created, and who created it.
The Meta-owned platform said that this particular user safety feature is intended to help someone make a more informed decision on whether or not it’s a group that they know or want to be a part of. “It is particularly helpful if you just met someone or a group of people, and haven’t yet saved them in your contacts,” WhatsApp said in a press release on Tuesday, July 9.
While the feature may already be available to some WhatsApp users, it will be rolled out to everyone on the platform in the coming weeks.
Bad actors are known to add users to unknown WhatsApp groups in order to push crypto or job scams, hoping that someone falls for them. Users can also be flooded with spam after being added to such groups.
Hence, in 2019, WhatsApp decided to give its users more control over who can add them to a group. Now, users can head to Settings & go to Account > Privacy > Groups, where they can choose between three options: “Everyone,” “My Contacts,” or “My Contacts Except.”
Outside of a group, what happens when a stranger texts you on WhatsApp? In that case too, the instant messaging platform said that it will provide the user with more context about the account holder that has texted them.
