WhatsApp Search The Web Feature Set To Curb Misinformation & Fake News
WhatsApp – the most popular instant messaging app is trying, by all means, to make the application safe and user-friendly while on the race to attract as many users as possible in the competitive industry.
Recently, Whatsapp announced they have added a new feature called Search The Web for users to verify the authenticity of the content they receive.
The feature was piloted in Brazil, Italy, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S. as a simple way to double-check these messages by tapping a magnifying glass button in the chat.
Sometime last year, the app added a new feature on forwarded messages where it showed users through double arrows and a faint ‘forwarded’ message to show that the messages people received were forwarded from somewhere and not written by the sender.
Earlier this year, they set limits on how many times forwarded messages could be sent at once to maintain the private nature of WhatsApp.
But this was not enough to curb the spread of misinformation, neither was it giving thee app that security status it so much brags about – the encrypted messages. This because people could forward private conversations to another.
This time, Whatsapp is providing a simple way to search messages that have been forwarded many times so to help people find news results or other sources of information about the content they have received.
WhatsApp said the new feature, called “search the web,” works by allowing users to upload the text message via their browser without WhatsApp ever seeing the message itself.
Search the web was rolled out starting this August in Brazil, Italy, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, UK, and the US for those on the latest versions of WhatsApp for Android, iOS and WhatsApp Web.
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