WhatsApp has become a hub for people to share forwarded messages that in most cases turn out to be fake. This spreading of misinformation on the platform has posed concerns for governments across the globe.
Now WhatsApp is working on a feature that will look to prevent users from sharing misinformed articles with a large number of people. The feature has been spotted by reliable tipster WAbetainfo a few days back, who claims the support will be rolled out to end-users in the coming days.
However, it’s worth noting the option might be only coming to Android users, at least until Apple plans to support it for iOS.
The feature has been spotted on beta version 2.20.94 for Android.
As you can see below, the option will be applied to text messages forwarded to users, who will notice a search icon right next to the shared message. You can check for the authenticity of the message by searching for it on the web. “After tapping the icon, WhatsApp will ask if you want to upload the message on Google, so you can see if it contains fake news,” WABetainfo mentioned in this post.
WhatsApp has been looking at different ways to tackle the risk of misinformation being spread on the platform, and this latest attempt is a sign the company wants to minimise such incidents at the earliest.
Having said that, WhatsApp has been diligent in maintaining end-to-end encryption of messages and other content, even though India and other governments have been asking the Facebook-owned app to allow access to government agencies.
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