Fake News on Social Media

In light of the ongoing COVID-19 scare, WhatsApp is planning to launch new features to enable the verification of forwarded messages.

‘Search Message’ Feature

WhatsApp is in plans to launch a new feature to help users verify the authenticity of forwarded messages, called the ‘Search Message’ feature. Forwarded messages will bear a search icon using which the message can be verified via a Google search.

‘Frequently Forwarded Message’ Feature

Earlier, WhatsApp had introduced a feature which would label the messages that had been forwarded frequently. It was to alert the users about the possibility of the message being inauthentic and hence encourage them to verify the message. A loophole is that the labelling doesn’t work if the same message was copied and pasted before being sent.

MyGov Corona Helpdesk

MyGov Corona Helpdesk is a WhatsApp chatbot that was recently launched in India. It was launched to help address queries about COVID-19 and curb the spread of fake news. It will provide information like symptoms of the disease, precautions against contracting the virus, helpline numbers, affected cases in the region, government advisories etc.