With social media coming under the scanner ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, WhatsApp seems to be gearing up to ensure its platform does not become 'fake news factory'.
The instant messaging giant is testing a new feature that could well play a key role. According to WaBetaInfo, the platform that tracks upcoming features in WhatsApp, the instant messaging app “is developing a new feature that allows to search an image on the Web that you sent/received in your chats.” In other words, users will be able to check whether any news or information related to that image is fake or real.
It is further explained that a separate tab called “Search Image” will appear in the chat window which users can access to find out the source of the image. WhatsApp, as per WaBetaInfo, already uses Google’s Application Programme Interface or commonly known as APIs to “find similar or equal images on the Web.”


Once a user receives an image and clicks on the Search Image option, WhatsApp will open Google browser to show the results. Users through this feature will be able to understand if the news or information related to an image is real or fake or not.

This feature has been teased at an intriguing time as the Election Commission of India has already laid out several guidelines for candidates and political parties on the use of social media. However, WhatsApp wasn’t a part of those guidelines whereas Google, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter were.

India has had a WhatsApp ‘problem’ for a while now. There have been a few unfortunate incidents of lynching and mob violence that took place because of fake news and rumours emitting on WhatsApp. The government of India has been in talks with WhatsApp for a while now to tackle this issue. While there have been a few disagreements from both parties, WhatsApp did appoint a grievance officer in India.

As far the new feature which is in testing mode, it’s not known when exactly it will be rolled out. It’s also not clear whether it will come on Android phones or will reach Apple iPhones as well.

Source: gadgetsnow.com