On Wednesday (3 April), Facebook introduced a new feature on its WhatsApp platform, allowing users to decide who can add them to chat groups. This is done in an attempt to revamp its image after growing privacy concerns among users.
In a blog post, WhatsApp revealed that a user who invites another to a group will be prompted to send a private invite via an individual chat, giving the receiver the choice of whether to join the group or not.
It is said that the request will expire in three days.
“With these new features, users will have more control over the group messages they receive. These new privacy settings will begin rolling out to some users starting today and will be available worldwide in the coming weeks to those using the latest version of WhatsApp,” said the messaging service.
After the world’s largest social network admitted last month that data of millions of users were wrongly obtained by political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, worldwide concerns on how Facebook handles its customers’ personal information arised.
As such, WhatsApp which has about 1.5 billion users, has been trying everything in its power to find ways to stop misuse of the app, after global concerns occurred highlighting that the platform was being used to spread fake news, manipulated photos and videos without context and audio hoaxes, with no way to check their origin or full reach.
The online messaging app also said in January that it would limit the number of times a user can forward a message to five, in a bid to fight “misinformation and rumours”.
