WhatsApp's Group Invitation Feature Is Another Step To Tackle Fake News

Users can now take control over which group they’ll be added to thanks to the latest WhatsApp update. People can now turn on the invitation feature by going into accounts, located inside settings and then into Privacy.

People on the older version can update the app to obtain the latest features. Recently Whatsapp also launched Checkpoint Tipline — a service which confirms the authenticity of messages and posts. These slew of changes could easily be related to the steps being taken by the Facebook-owned messaging service in the wake of the upcoming General Election in India.

Previous Controversies

The horrific ‘Whatsapp lynching‘ caused public unrest on a massive scale in India. The viral messages containing provocative messages related to child kidnapping and organ harvesting destroyed a village in Jharkhand.

WhatsApp, which is now owned by Facebook, has gone through several changes since its inception. The limit for message forwarding, which earlier maxed out at 256, was reduced to 5.

Despite these changes, Whatsapp still remains one of the most unregulated social media platforms with tons of fake news in circulation.

Whatsapp messages in circulation range from April fools joke to racial slurs and fake news against minorities. Especially in India, unknown people frequently add tons of strangers into a single group, most of the time dedicated to a political or religious party.

Better Protection From Whatsapp

The earlier mentioned Checkpoint Tipline would work better if analyzed by human moderators and not just by the algorithms. Managed by ‘PROTO’, the Checkpoint Tipline will create a database to better understand fake news.

Currently, the capability of this verification service will categorize submissions into ‘True’ ‘False’, ‘Misleading’, ‘Disputed’ or ‘Out of Scope’. Establishing a grey area in terms of definitions is a good move as the service would remain non-biased under public opinion.