Mark Zuckerberg introduces new privacy features for WhatsApp
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| Mark Zuckerberg introduces new privacy features for WhatsApp |
New privacy features for WhatsApp users have been introduced by Meta.
Users will get the option to select who can view their online status, leave group discussions in silence, and block screenshots on View Once messages.
This will help keep WhatsApp chat “as private and secure as face-to-face talks,” according to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
This month, the features will start to be released, and a worldwide campaign will be launched, beginning in the UK, to showcase them.
Go away quietly
The well-known messaging software now notifies all participants in a group conversation when someone leaves or is deleted by default.
While it is possible to prevent this for specific group conversations, when users choose to “exit the group,” they are not given the option to depart quietly, which can lead to awkwardness, embarrassment, or drama for those attempting to leave unobserved.
However, going forward, only group admins will be able to quit without informing the rest of the group chat users.
The platform’s emphasis on “developing product features that empower users to have more control and privacy over their messages,” according to product head Ami Vora, is part of this.
She asserted that WhatsApp was the most secure platform for private communication.
No other large-scale worldwide messaging service offers this level of protection for users’ chat, media, voice messages, and video conversations.
This would unify online status options with “last seen” settings by giving users the choice of letting only specific contacts—or no one—see when they are active on the site.
“It’s always wonderful to give consumers more control—users prefer and need to have more control,” said Janis Wong, research associate at the Alan Turing Institute, to BBC News.
However, their impact can be minimal unless users are encouraged to use the features or are made fully aware of them in the app.
“It’s not necessarily particularly useful if it’s not the default or if users aren’t prompted to evaluate their decisions,” she continued.