WhatsApp on Tuesday began rolling out a new feature that is designed to improve the safety of its group messaging features. The Meta-owned messaging platform will now display contextual information to users when they are added to a group by an unknown user. The feature is designed to provide WhatsApp users with relevant information about the group that they’ve been added to, along with a shortcut to exit the group. The service already offers a setting that allows users to prevent strangers from adding them to groups.
According to details shared on Tuesday, WhatsApp is rolling out a new card for group chats that will be displayed after a user is added to a group by a user that isn’t in their contacts. This card is show in the chat window and contains information about the group that will provide users with context about the group.
The new context cards for group chats will prominently feature the name of the WhatsApp user who added them to the group. A sample screenshot showing the feature in action reveals that the card displays the name set by the user — the one that’s shown with the tilde symbol (~) when an unknown user sends a message in a group chat.
WhatsApp’s new group context cards are now rolling out to users globally
Photo Credit: Meta
Users will also be informed that they were “added by a non-contact” to a group. The context card will also show the new member the name of the user who created the group. The name, of course, will depend on what the group’s creator has added to their WhatsApp settings.
If a user has been added to a group that they do not want to be a part of, the context card includes a Safety tools option to report problematic content. Users will also see an Exit group button to leave i they do not wish to be part of the conversation.
Back in 2019, WhatsApp introduced a handy option under Settings > Account > Privacy > Groups that allowed users to prevent strangers from adding them to a group, via the app’s privacy settings. When enabled, users will receive an invite to join groups, when a person outside their contact list tries to add them to a group.
After a user is invited to a group, they have three days to accept it before it expires. The invite shows up as a direct message, and users aren’t added to the group until they tap the Join Group button on the invite. This might be the best option for users who want to avoid being automatically added to groups by unknown users, while still being offered an option to join after seeing details of the group and some of its members.
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