Facebook-owned WhatsApp is one of the most used messenger apps on both platforms iOS and Android. With popularity, it has a great responsibility to make sure, the app is not misused. But, several thousands of people in India knowingly or unknowingly circulated fake news about child lifters leading to mass lynching across the country in 2018.
Thereafter Indian government asked WhatsApp to curb the spread of misinformation and the latter did take several security measures including restricting a number of forwards to five per each person. This apparently reduced the number of lynching cased before the year of 2018 and now, WhatsApp is bringing new reverse image search feature, which will definitely help users to identify whether the photo is fake or not, reported WABetaInfo citing WhatsApp Android beta update (2.19.73).
Here's how the new reverse image search feature works on WhatsApp:
As per the image (above), we can see there is a new 'Reverse Search image' feature and if you select yes, it will upload the forwarded image to the Google browser and match it with the vast visual data available on the Internet. This will apparently give you a clear idea whether the image is a morphed photo used to project a particular person (or a political party) is bad or a saviour of the country.
With seven-phase Lok Sabha 2019 general election slated to kick off in the second week of April, this new reverse image search on WhatsApp will help voters to determine the truth about the image forward and make a conscious decision and choose the right person.
It will be imperative for WhatsApp to bring this image search feature to the messenger app, at least in India soon. The general election will commence on April 11 and continue till May 19, whereas the counting of votes will be held on May 23.
In a related development, WhatsApp has warned users to uninstall fake messenger apps having the same namesake including WhatsApp Plus and GB WhatsApp. It will ban users from using the original version. While some call this has a harsh decision, many opine that this is the right way to admonish users to stay away from fake apps, which will sooner or later harm them and doesn't even guarantee of user privacy.
WhatsApp has offered ways on how to transfer the shared images and other info back to the original messenger app. People are advised to make the switch before it's too late.
