WhatsApp is one of the most used apps in the world, now it has become a necessity to have WhatsApp on your phone. But this app has some flaws, or we can say flaws in the user to comprehend what is wrong and what is right. The app does not generate any news or any information really. It only serves to send your texts and media to another person. WhatsApp has end-to-end encryption and stores all messages on your device. Technically speaking, no one else along the way should be able to see your messages once it leaves your device. The only way for WhatsApp to prevent fake news would be to read every message from everyone and use special algorithms and verification techniques to check if that link your friend sent you is legitimate or not. The problem with India is they never do their own homework and just listen to every other person out there.
Remember when there was a rumor that salt prices have reached 500 rupees per kilogram. In India rumors on WhatsApp spread like a wildfire and a greater section of the people believe this false information blindly. This is not feasible as it is a violation of the privacy of the users and can also lead to havoc or social issues. WhatsApp has finally come with new updates and these updates are one of the major updates in the last few months. WhatsApp has finally introduced flash calls services and message level reporting. The flash call feature will allow the user to authenticate their number on WhatsApp by getting a flash call. It will help in the registration process where you can opt for a flash call for verifying the number. The user experience of WhatsApp will be the same as before, the update is only an added feature for the registration process.
WhatsApp has introduced this feature after a lot of complaints from the users about the scam in WhatsApp’s registration. A new scam has been in circulation for quite some time, in the scam in which scammers claim to be from WhatsApp technical team and ask you for asking for the 6-digit verification code sent to a user when they register their accounts. They use the WhatsApp icon as their profile picture to make users believe that they are really from the technical team. After getting the code, these people can take control of your WhatsApp account and perform various tasks like sending out illegal messages, downloading all of your backup photos, and stuff. If your WhatsApp account gets compromised, you will immediately be signed out of your current device.
You should immediately reverify your account back to your phone and we think it would be cool. This is the fastest way by which you can save yourselves from scammers, although the new update in the registration process can also protect the users from such kinds of scams and ensure total security up to a certain extent. Apart from that, WhatsApp also provides end-to-end encryption to the users and it also offers features like blocking contacts, you also have total control over what to share and with whom you are sharing, disappearing messages, and locking the app with Touch ID or Face ID. Developers of WhatsApp have rolled flash call and message level reporting feature in the app to make it a more secure and reliable platform for the users.
Earlier users had to wait for some time to get a verification call on their number, they had to enter the OTP received on their contact number, and in case if the verification failed to deliver on the number then the calling feature was available for the users to complete the registration process. The flash call feature will help the user to automatically verify their number on WhatsApp. This feature will eliminate the SMS verification process because most of the times users are unable to receive WhatsApp verification messages on their number. The reason can be connectivity problems or low network coverage. WhatsApp also claims that the calling verification process is the next level of enhancement in the WhatsApp security and encryption policy.
On the other hand, Facebook generates news stories, hosts news among other platforms easily. This can be managed without many ordeals. You would still need all the verification of stories, but it is easier to do since it can be verified before appearing on your feed, and no privacy issues during this process either. Message level reporting is one of the most talked-about updates in WhatsApp. Now the users have the option to report a suspicious account or a message. It can be easily done by just simply pressing long on a particular message you want to report. You will also have the direct option to block a user from the chat box. WhatsApp stated that it has banned more than 2.2 million accounts only in the month of September. Talking about another update in that WhatsApp, the message level reporting is an enhancement in the earlier feature of WhatsApp.
The earlier update in the WhatsApp reporting feature was “checkpoint Tipline”, in this update users have the option to report those messages which are fake and promote intriguing and false news. This feature was widely used when millions of fake WhatsApp messages about corona were circulated on the instant messaging site. Now the recent update is the enhanced version of Checkpoint Tipline, this provides a more rapid response to the users when they report a particular message or number. Some of the other features which will be available for users are unique and most awaiting. You can have control over your WhatsApp profile photo and you can keep an eye on the users who view your profile picture. Apart from that, older features like last seen, about and status will also available like before.
As we know that WhatsApp offers two-step verification which gives an extensive layer of security to the users. Users also have enhanced security and privacy on group chats, they have total authority and control over who adds them to a group. This feature allows the users to restrict themselves from being added to a group. It’s not actually possible to report people on WhatsApp. You can of course block them, but there’s no way of reporting people. Of course, WhatsApp accounts are tied to mobile numbers, so if you get a lot of harassment from one number, report it to the police and if it’s serious enough, they’ll look into it. They’ll probably most likely suggest that you block them though. Apart from that, WhatsApp has recently introduced a disappearing message feature and view once in which users can send a message for one time visibility or it can disappear after a certain period of time.
The view once features enable the user to send a photo or video with one-time visibility, once the receiver saw the photo/video then the media file will disappear from the chatbox. While WhatsApp is a messaging app and everything you do there will be limited to you. So, the users will have to be aware of the misleading and false information and stay updated with recent updates in WhatsApp privacy and security. Whenever you have doubt about something, go research it and read about it from various sources. This might take some time but you will not see yourself as a fool. This is the primary way you can make yourself aware of the authenticity of the information you receive on your WhatsApp. What can save us from this curse is ‘awareness’.
We want to give you an example. Let see you are interested in something. Let’s take it as some technology. You have read about this technology from various sources. You know almost everything about it and one day a man or a woman comes in front of you and starts telling you about the same technology you have researched on, that person tells something wrong about a new technology or gives you misleading information, you know that it’s wrong. But how do you know that? Because you have awareness about it. So, the same way applies to this thing too.