Choose area:

You control who can add you to groups on Whatsapp

Tech news 4 April 2019

CAPE TOWN – Facebook has reportedly added new controls on WhatsApp that will give users the ability to control who can add you to group messages.

This is according to a report by VentureBeat which states that the app now lets users stop people from adding them into groups if they’re not a contact in their phone book.

Whatsapp has been on a mission to end the spread of fake news and misinformation which started last year when the company put a limit on forwarded messages.

WhatsApp has already limited the amount of times a message can be forwarded to five, and also now labels forwarded messages to draw attention to them.

Yesterday, the social platform also launched a new fact-checking service in India which users can use to verify the truthfulness of any messages they’ve been sent.

How will this new feature work?

According to the report, to turn-on the feature, users will be able to find it settings menu on the app and then have to select Account options.

Users will then need to select Privacy, then Groups, and you’ll be able to select who exactly can add you to a group.

Three options will be given that users can select which are Nobody, My Contacts, or Everyone.

Users will be able to restrict who can add them to groups can still be added by private invitation.

A link will then be sent to a user to give basic information about the group they’re being invited to and they can choose to join it if they want to.

The report notes that the invitation link expires in 72 hours.

Written by: Gabriella Steyn.

Guzzle Media