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WhatsApp Now Lets You Control Who Can Add You To a Group (venturebeat.com)

Posted by msmash on from the about-time dept.

WhatsApp announced this week that it is rolling out changes to its messaging app to give users more control over how they engage with groups, thereby addressing one of the most pronounced privacy issues on the platform. From a report: The Facebook-owned service said users will now have an option to control who can add them to groups. Users can choose between Nobody, My Contacts (people whose phone numbers they have saved in their phone), and Everyone -- assuming they don't have any reservations about random people adding them to different groups. To add someone who has restricted access, users will be required to send a private message to the person with an invite link. That individual can then decide whether they wish to join the group through the invite link, which will be active for 72 hours.

7 comments

  1. It's funny... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... how often these "innovations!" are really just "shit we should've thought about a long time ago".

    But then, these companies are all run and staffed with California's finest.

  2. Wow such innovative! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who fucking cares really!?

  3. Owned by Failbook by RAHH · · Score: 1

    Key words here are "owned by Failbook". In other words: DO NOT USE!

  4. If they really cared about user control by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They would make it so the user *requests* membership to a group. Duh.

  5. Bravo by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 4, Funny

    If there's an award for pioneering achievement in computer science, this tour de force of logic surely deserves to collect it.

    1. Re:Bravo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Never used WhatsApp before. Who in the world made the decision: "hey, any user can add other people to other groups"? This feels very spammy.

  6. I think it's dumb this isn't the default... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hangout, Google+, many others will just auto-add you to a group if someone else tells the platform to (and they don't even have to be an admin). It boggles my mind you can basically FORCE someone into a group without any "consent" first.

    step 1: make group with inappropriate name and invite/force join enemy and screen cap
    step 2: ?
    step 3: profit!