Stops People From Automatically Adding You To WhatsApp Groups Without Your Permission

The End Of Annoying Whatsapp groups: Update Stops People From Adding You Without Your Permission

WhatsApp has added a new feature that stops people from automatically adding you to groups, letting you decide which ones you want to join.

People will now have the option to choose from three options in their settings from ‘nobody,’ ‘my contacts,’ or ‘everyone’.

The Facebook-owned service said that the feature is already rolling out for some users and will be available worldwide within the coming weeks.

Until now, once someone has your contact details they can add you to a group chat without your permission.

Being added to a group chat could potentially expose your phone number to hundreds of people – a cause for privacy concerns.

The news comes as the company announced a new fact-check service to fight fake news ahead of the India elections beginning this month.

WhatsApp, who have over 200 million users in India, has come under criticism of its platform being used for the spread of misinformation.

A series of mob lynchings, sparked by images spread via the app, claimed up to 40 lives in the country last year.

This is a significant update for WhatsApp and a frequently requested feature that will limit abuse and keep people’s phone numbers private, a WhatsApp spokesperson told Mail Online.

This can lead to resentment among friends who may have added you.

‘WhatsApp groups continue to connect family, friends, coworkers, classmates and more,’ a spokesman for WhatsApp said in a statement.

‘As people turn to groups for important conversations, users have asked for more control over their experience.’

To restrict joining of new groups on WhatsApp, there will be a privacy setting that can be accessed by tapping ‘account’, ‘privacy’ and ‘groups’.

Then three options will appear on the screen – nobody, my contacts and everyone.

f you decide on the nobody option, then no one in your contact list is able to add you to a group without sending you an invite.

The same goes for if you decide that you want your contact list to be able to add you, or if you pick everyone, then anyone will be able to add you.

This means that the administrator for a group chat will need to send you an invite to their group through an individual chat, which expires three days after its receipt.

There have been several reports of people being added to spam groups and even re-added after you’ve opted to leave.

The Facebook-owned service said that the feature setting is rolling out for some users today, but will be available worldwide within the coming weeks. Until now, once someone has your contact details they can add you to a group chat without getting your permission

The move is significant as social media platforms are expected to play a major role in political campaigns to reach out to citizens in large numbers.

India, one of WhatsApp’s largest markets, have accused WhatsApp of failing to curb false information on its platform.

The company came under scrutiny from the Indian government after mod violence, which was triggered by rumours circulating on the platform about child kidnappers, citing a video that purportedly shows a child being abducted.

Since then, the company restricted forwarding messages to five chats at once and ran advertisements and television and radio campaigns showing users how to spot misinformation.

However, WhatsApp has so far resisted the Indian government’s demand for identifying message originators.

They argued that this would undermine the end-to-end encryption and the private nature of the platform.

Source: Dailymail