WhatsApp’s new privacy settings for groups

Social media platform WhatsApp yesterday announced a new privacy setting for groups. This new protection feature help reduces the spread of fake news and rumours.

As the general elections in the country are approaching, almost all political parties are focused on WhatsApp.

Some are trying to convert it to their favour while the others are keeping an eye for any fake news.

Recently, the Wall Street Journal published a report saying that political parties in India are using WhatsApp to send a message to groups categorized by caste, religion and income.

The reports of hoaxes are also growing. In this context, WhatsApp is taking certain steps to control fake news and misinformation. It is now removing nearly 2 million accounts globally each month.

Fake news is not always received from family and friends of WhatsApp users, but from group chats as well.

So far, anyone can add any person to a group without his/her consent. As a result, users can receive floods of messages even if they are not interested in receiving them.

But, now with the introduction of a new feature, users can control group admins by not letting themselves be added without approval.

This new feature is likely to lower the abuse and keep phone numbers of people private.

Users can decide whether or not to join a group as they would receive an invite while adding them to a group.

To enable this new protection, users need to adjust their WhatsApp Settings. Go to Settings, tap Account > Privacy > Groups and choose from the three options from “Nobody”, “My Contacts”, or “Everybody.

If you choose “Nobody”, then you will have to approve the joining of any group to which you have been invited. If you choose “My Contacts”, only people in your contact can add you to their groups. The invite will expire in 3 days if you don’t accept.

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