This WhatsApp feature helps you spot fake news amid the coronavirus outbreak

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Due to WhatsApp’s consistent testing of advanced search features, users can now lookup for the authenticity of ‘Frequently Forwarded messages’ on the web from the chat with the help of WABetaInfo.

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How does this new WhatsApp feature work?

This new WhatsApp feature will check if the message contains fake news or not by asking you to upload the message on Google. WhatsApp has been ramping up its fact-checking features constantly to stop the spread of fake news that might trigger fear amongst the people amidst the coronavirus crisis.

This WhatsApp feature helps you spot fake news amid the coronavirus outbreak 1

WhatsApp, the popular social messaging app constantly keeps making changes to render its users a hassle-free messaging experience. The Facebook-owned messaging app is now on its way to having an advanced search messages option that will help users lookup for messages on the web through the app, this will help in curtailing the spread of fake messages across the app. It will also authenticate forwarded messages through web searches on the same. This feature has come after finally rendering their users the year long-awaited dark mode feature both in Android and iOS.

According to WABetaInfo, the online portal that is entirely dedicated to the coverage of the app, the messaging app has been testing its advanced search features for long. Now the users can search for ‘Frequently Forwarded Messages’ on the web from the chat. This will be shown as WhatsApp labels messages which have been frequently forwarded on top of the text, as seen below in the image. This feature will let you know that the message might not be genuine because it has been forwarded multiple times.

This new WhatsApp feature hasn’t been released officially, it shows a magnifying glass icon against the forwarded message. After tapping on the icon WhatsApp will ask whether you want to upload the message on Google or not so that you can check if it contains fake news.

On tapping the icon, a message saying “Would you like to search this on the Web? This will upload the message on Google.” will pop up. Tap on the ‘Search Web’ option and then it will search on Google.

new whatsapp feature

WhatsApp has confirmed that this feature will be available soon.

“We are working on new features to help empower users to find out more information about the messages they receive that have been forwarded many times. This feature is currently in testing, and we look forward to rolling it out in the near future,”.

A spokesperson told TechCrunch

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