WhatsApp is, without a doubt, one of the most popular messaging apps of all time. The app provides unlimited messaging capabilities to its users, giving it an advantage over the normal messaging services through mobile networks. However, the unlimited messaging feature also became one of the most known drawbacks of the app. Whatsapp is very popular for spamming people with fake news and videos, due to which even WhatsApp had to limit the number of users to whom you can forward messages.
Although the restriction is partially removed, users get irritated by fake news and videos that often act like spam in the app. WhatsApp has now introduced a new pilot feature, which allows the user to search if the information received through WhatsApp is fake or real. The assertions made in the messages can now be directly searched on the internet. The services are currently available in Italy, the UK, Brazil, Ireland, Spain, Mexico, and the US.
Once someone sends you a message on WhatsApp, you will see a magnifying glass in front of the message. It applies to messages and images that have been at least forwarded five times. Once the user clicks on the magnifying glass icon, the assertion will be searched on the internet to verify it. The feature allows the user to upload the text and images via browser, due to which WhatsApp never uploads the data or messages to themselves. The feature will soon be rolled out in other countries as well.
It is expected that the feature will take a few more months before it is released in a stable version. The step has been taken due to the increasing spread of misinformation, especially in this pandemic. Due to their changes in message forwarding features, the forwarded message on the platform went down by 70%.