WhatsApp has been surrounded with controversies since past many months related to fake news and offensive content being spread through WhatsApp groups. The company has been working on adding new features to fight such issues.
Now, after introducing a few new features like PiP mode and group video calling, the company is now working on a privacy-related feature that will give power to the users for controlling the WhatsApp group invites.
As per the reports, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) asked WhatsApp to bring in a feature that would first ask for the users’ consent before adding them to any group. The development comes after several people complained that they were being added to random groups repetitively without their consent.
If you are facing this problem, currently there’s nothing you can do to stop getting added repetitively to random groups since anyone with your contact can add you to any group. However, that could change soon.
WhatsApp is currently working on a group feature that will give more control to the user regarding who can add them to an existing or a newly formed group. With the upcoming ‘Group Invitation’ feature, you’ll get three option in group invite privacy — Everyone, My Contact, and Nobody.
The option for ‘Everyone’ is for those who don’t mind getting added to the groups by anyone. However, if you don’t want to get added to groups from random persons and only from those whom you know, choose the option of ‘My Contact’. If you are tired of WhatsApp groups and do not wish to be a part of any of the group, choose the ‘Nobody’ option, where the joining invitation will expire in 72 hours.
This new feature can be found in the ‘Settings’ menu under Account > Privacy > Groups. However, do note that the feature is currently in beta development and can be tested out only by WhatsApp beta users on iOS. If you are interested, download the TestFlight app and join WhatsApp’s beta programme. At this time, it’s not known when the feature will officially roll out to all users.
