WhatsApp is introducing a nifty feature that’s targeted at double checking forwarded messages in an effort to discover fakes. The feature works by tapping on a magnifying glass next on the chat that let’s users upload it on Google search for further verification. WhatsApp says they’ll not have access to the message themselves and a prompt alert appears asking the user to confirm whether to upload it on the web to search via Google.
Basically, WhatsApp users will now be able to search the web when receiving forwarded messages flagged by the platform. This will help users get detailed information regarding the message and act as a quick way to verify sources and ascertain if the message was legit or not.
A forwarded message appearing in your chats will be accompanied by a small magnifying glass net to it that’ll let you search the web for further details. And to protect user’s privacy, the message is uploaded without WhatsApp itself ever seeing the message. That way, end-to-end encryption will be maintained since the user will be the one sending the contents of forwarded messages to their web browser.
WhatsApp has had a hard time tackling fake news with its efforts dating back in 2018 when the platform started flagging forwarded messages. At the start of this year, the platform further tightened its grip on fakes by limiting the number of users you could share a forwarded message with at a time. The feature will become available immediately in Brazil, Italy, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, UK, and the US for Android, iOS, and WhatsApp Web. We also expected to be rolled out to masses hopefully sooner with Kenya slated to be amongst countries that receive it next.