Four Ways WhatsApp Can Learn From Other Apps & Add Features That Can Stop The Spread Of Rumours

WhatsApp has always been a harbour for hoax messages, but the problem has been amplified lately thanks to the spate of violence it¡¯s sparked.

In the meantime, the Indian government has asked WhatsApp to take preemptive action, so here are a few things WhatsApp could try.

1. ¡°Forwarded message¡± notification

One particular tool WhatsApp was testing recently, was a way to let people know that a message they¡¯ve received could possibly be spam or a hoax. So far it hasn¡¯t been fully implemented yet, but the idea is that it would provide a notification badge below a message, if it¡¯s been forwarded a high number of times. But Gmail's spam filter does this brilliantly for emails, so why can't it be done for messages on WhatsApp?

2. Facebook¡¯s AI monitor

Right now, WhatsApp¡¯s parent company Facebook has a huge team of human employees whose only job is to analyse posts on the platform for authenticity. If they¡¯re spam or fake news, they get deleted, and the offender flagged. However, the company is also currently training an artificial intelligence to automate this job, even tracking posts before they¡¯ve been flagged by users. When this is ready, perhaps WhatsApp could find a way to incorporate it into its own platform. That way, it might still be acceptable to have a machine read your texts and not a human.

3. Forwarding confirmation pop-up

In many social media (and other) apps, you receive a confirmation pop-up to confirm you want to post something online. Even Netflix has a pop-up to confirm you want to end your subscription, despite the fact that you can start it up again at any time, and your account details will remain.

In the same way, WhatsApp could integrate a tool into its app, that pops up a confirmation request whenever you decide to forward a message. Something along the lines of ¡°Are you sure this text doesn¡¯t contain any personal data you don¡¯t want someone to have?¡± and ¡°Are you completely sure the information you¡¯re forwarding is verified and true?" An anti-cyberbullying app developed by US-based Trisha Prabhu does this very effectively. A little second-guessing and the mere idea of accountability could go a long way towards stopping WhatsApp hoaxes.

4. Auto-link to Google Search

This particular feature might be a little more complex to implement but bear with me. Suppose you copy a forward you get and try to send it to someone else, or maybe just text from a blog or someone¡¯s Facebook status update. At that point, if you¡¯re copy-pasting without confirming what it says, you¡¯re part of the hoax problem. So education is key here.

To do that, perhaps WhatsApp could actually integrate with Google News here. Imagine WhatsApp has a feature that only triggers when a user tries to paste information from the clipboard (pasting copied text) while within WhatsApp. When that happens, instead of directly putting it into the text field, WhatsApp could instead have a notification pop up asking whether you¡¯d like to search the terms within. If you hit OK, either the keywords or the entire block of text is searched in Google News, thereby providing the sender with a quick way to research what they¡¯re about to text someone.

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It¡¯s a great way to encourage responsible sharing, while also respecting a user¡¯s privacy. After all, should they click ¡®No¡¯, that¡¯s the end of that, and it would be up to their contacts to berate them for not researching the hundredth text they sent that turned out to be false.

These are just some ways to take preemptive actions against trolls and malicious actors without violating the encryption and privacy that¡¯s integral to WhatsApp. Perhaps there are more we haven¡¯t figured out yet. Either way, education and responsibility are key in this situation and, though there are at least a few things you can do for your part, there¡¯s a lot more that WhatsApp can be doing.