WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature to control the spread of fake messages. The messaging app is testing the feature at the moment. The upcoming feature labels dubious links shared through its platform.
Previously WhatsApp has taken steps to control the spread of fake messages by rolling out forward labeled messages feature and limiting message forwarding to only five contacts,
The ‘suspicious link’ tag can be found on WhatsApp beta for Android devices. As per WABetaInfo report, the feature will be brought to iPhones and window phones in the later updates.
The suspicious link detection feature plays its role as soon as someone forwards the link that is considered dubious. The receiver will see the forwarded link with a red label.
As per the reports, the feature detects anomalies in the link and if finds any, the link is tagged with suspicious link label.
Even when the user tries to open the link, a new window pops up and informs the user that the link has been flagged as suspicious. The feature checks the link locally on the device of the receiver.
It is, however, to be noted that since the messages are end-to-end encrypted, the link detection feature checks the link locally on receiver’s device without assessing data on servers of WhatsApp.
In order to activate the suspicious link detection feature which is only available on WhatsApp beta version, Android users will have to update their WhatsApp beta app to version 2.18.221 or later. If the feature does not show up after the update to the mentioned version, back up the chat history and then reinstall WhatsApp.
