WhatsApp is reportedly testing a new feature that ascertains whether a link that has been sent to you is suspicious or not, and labels it accordingly.
WhatsApp has been in the news for all the wrong reasons recently. Earlier this month, the government condemned the spreading of fake news on the Facebook -owned messaging app and urged it to take strong action to prevent these occurrences, which have led to incidences of violence in the country. In the most recent development that has come to light, WhatsApp has reportedly opened up testing of its Suspicious Link feature in the new Android beta version. The feature was introduced with version 2.18.204 of the app, but was available only for a small number of beta users. Now, however, it can be found on all phones running the WhatsApp beta for Android version 2.18.221.
As per a report by WABetaInfo, a trusted source for all things WhatsApp, with this feature, WhatsApp beta on Android gets the ability to tag a ‘Suspicious Link’ whenever a contact sends one to you. This update is expected to warn unknowing users of a suspicious link before they open it. WhatsApp will also reportedly alert the user once again by looking for unusual characters if they try to open the link. Two options, Open Link and Go Back, will be provided. The suspicious character is highlighted in the dialogue box that appears when you try to open the link. The new Suspicious Link Detection feature isn’t currently available on iOS and Windows Phone but will be rolled out in future updates.
The report claims that all links are evaluated and tagged locally, and no data is sent to or procured from WhatsApp and Facebook servers. This is because of the messaging platform’s end-to-end encryption that was first announced in November of 2014.
While this new feature will act as a measure against phishing, spoofing, and possibly even spam, it may not be as effective in combating fake news. There are several websites, such as Infowars in the US, which do not have any special characters in the URL but are known for spreading conspiracy theories and unverified or altogether false stories as legitimate news.
Earlier this week, WhatsApp announced that it is planning to limit message forwarding capabilities for Indian users in the wake of mob incidents in the country. The plan includes a lower limit of 5 messages and the removal of the «quick forward» shortcut from media messages. The company also claimed that Indian users forward more messages and videos than any other market in the world.
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