WhatsApp is one of the most widely used messaging services in the world. The service is planning to control the spam content that is being sent to the users. WhatsApp doesn’t update its app very often, however, whenever it does, the updates are worth keeping. Currently, the messaging service is working on an update that will alert its users if they receive a spam message or if they are about to forward one of their contacts.
The spam messages are very annoying for most users. These messages are often based on fake or old news. The new algorithm of WhatsApp will notify its users if the content has been shared many times. The feature is currently under testing by the app. If a user receives any such message it will have a tag with it saying “Forwarded Many Times” below the sender’s name. Similarly, when a user is about to forward any such message WhatsApp will add an alert by saying, “A message you are forwarding has been forwarded many times.”
There are not many chances that the chain messages of WhatsApp contain any kind of scams. But there are some popular messages that keep circling around in the app that urge the users to pay in order to use a service. For example, a message that was circulated a lot with a non-existent service called “WhatsApp Gold” and then another message that recommends opening a document which might contain a malware.
Whatsapp has been facing this problem a lot since most of the times the fake news was propagated all over the network. Many social networks have faced serious criticism over the allegations that they were spreading fake news during the Presidential election in the US. Just last week, Whatsapp also faced another issue with its group chat feature. The flaw was that the feature was allowing anyone to add themselves to any conversation.
So lets hope that the new update rolls out successfully and saves us from all the useless spam!