WhatsApp has been criticized a lot in the recent past, mainly for being a platform that is used to spread fake news. The company has been working on solving such issues and has introduced several restrictions and features to curb the spreading of fake news.
Now, in a bid to combat fake news, the company is reportedly testing a ‘search image’ feature in a new beta update for Android. It lets the user upload any received image directly to Google to find similar or equal images on the web and will easily let them know whether the picture is fake or genuine.
The new search image feature was discovered in the latest WhatsApp beta update 2.19.73. With Lok Sabha polls right around the corner, the search image tool is a step from WhatsApp to further minimize the spread of fake and objectionable content through its platform.
According to a report from WABetainfo, WhatsApp will use official Google APIs to search for the images on the Web. Once the image is uploaded on Google, WhatsApp will open the browser to show the search results.
Prior to this, WhatsApp had introduced message forwarding limits and forwarding notification in the company’s ongoing effort to control the spread of misinformation.
However, the report notes that the feature hasn’t been enabled yet for the people who have downloaded the updated beta. The beta version of the app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store if the user is part of the beta testing programme.
