WhatsApp might give admins a ‘delete for all’ feature soon

WhatsApp is the go-to comms platform for a lot of users globally and many use it for personal and professional purposes both. Now, this Meta-owned messaging platform also allows people to create groups which makes it easier to share messages and media with a lot of people at the same time instead of having to do it individually.

However, such mass dissemination is also the perfect breeding ground for fake news and misinformation allowing it to circulate freely within groups. Of course, we cannot even begin to tell you how detrimental and dangerous fake news and misinformation can be, and it often comes down to the admins to handle these cases.

According to reports, WhatsApp is working on a new feature that will allow group admins to tackle these unwanted messages better. As you’d know group admins have a lot of control over who can join the group and who cannot, now WhatsApp is giving admins more control. This upcoming feature will allow group admins to delete messages for all user in the group. Additionally, if a message is deleted by the admin, other users can see a display bubble that mentions that it has been removed by the admin.

This feature was first spotted by WABetaInfo in the WhatsApp beta v2.22.17.12 and reportedly it has already rolled out to a few testers. And the stable version should be rolling out soon.

Currently, the group admin can only delete messages for themselves, like every other user in the group. WhatsApp’s delete message feature allows users (including admins) to delete messages for themselves or everyone only if the message was sent by them, it does not support the option to delete messages that others have sent (except for themselves). This is a problem when it comes to messages that are fake, incorrect, or even derogatory or insulting in nature. If shared by anyone in the group, it can be seen by all others and admins have no control over this. Sure, it can be deleted off their own screen, but not for all.

WhatsApp’s “delete for all” feature will be helpful in removing these inappropriate messages when shared on groups because clearly, asking people to not send problematic messages is not enough.

This is WhatsApp taking another step towards trying to curb the spread of fake news and misinformation on the platform. But then, at the end of the day, admins are not fact checkers and a lot of information can pass by them. However, if they are aware, they can at least delete the message and stop it right there from spreading further.

Although, admins are not fact checkers and can completely eradicate this issue. But admins can at least stop sharing rampant messages and fake news on their groups.

Also Read: WhatsApp is working on Kept messages feature: what is it, how will it work?

Also Read: ‘Scam Se Bacho’: WhatsApp launches digital-payments safety campaign