WhatsApp has recently been in talks for spreading the fake news. In order to curb that, the popular messaging app is now reportedly testing a new feature called ‘Suspicious Link Detection’ through which it will inform users about fake or suspicious links sent to them.
According to WABetaInfo, the Suspicious Link Detection feature is currently in its testing stage. This latest move comes after IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asked Facebook-owned company to take steps to control the fake news. WhatsApp is working on this new feature to curb those suspicious links spreading such news.
WhatsApp Suspicious Link Detection Feature
As per WABetaInfo, the new WhatsApp Suspicious Link Detection feature will come with Android beta version 2.18.204 and later. WhatsApp will analyze all the links received via messages and will detect the suspicious ones. It will automatically identify whether the link received is suspicious or not. The messaging app will detect all links that are redirecting to an alternate website that could be foul.
Source: WABetaInfo
Once the app detects any suspicious link, it will then mark the link with a red label to let users easily differentiate between a fake and genuine link. WhatsApp will also warn the users with a message about the suspicious link as follows: “This link contains unusual characters. It may be trying to appear as another site.”
Source: WABetaInfo
The report further suggests that WhatsApp will also bring a new feature that will allow users to manually report a suspicious link via the platform itself.
Notably, WhatsApp will analyze all the links sent via messages locally which means the messages containing links will not be sent to the WhatsApp servers. So, the user data will no longer be compromised. The feature is currently in testing phase and might be rolled out soon to beta users before a wider release.
