New WhatsApp Feature Will Mark Messages With Fake Links in Red

When a user receives a link to a website, WhatsApp will do a background check of the link and mark the message.

The moment a user receives a link to a website on WhatsApp, the app will do a background check of the link and will mark the message with a red label.

(Photo: iStockphoto)

With WhatsApp becoming the hub of fake news, the company has waged a war to fight the plague, with new features and updates coming in to curb fake news. The latest feature being that it will alert users of fake news forwarded within groups. WhatsApp will automatically check the authenticity of the website links that are being shared through the new 'Suspicious link' feature.

The moment a user receives a link to a website on WhatsApp, the app will do a background check of the link and will mark the message with a red label.

The red label will indicate that it is either a spam or a phishing link or is redirecting to a fake website.

This feature is made available on the WhatsApp 2.18.204 beta version and can be expected to roll out very soon.

Being the latest step in WhatsApp's fight against fake news, this feature adds to features like blocking unknown senders, preventing people from adding others in groups they have left, demoting group admins, group members restricting members from sending messages in a particular group and the forwarded message label, which lets a user know if the message he/she received is a forwarded one.