Opinion | WhatsApp gets watchful

If you are a part of multiple group chats on WhatsApp, you might want to check if they are still around, and more importantly, that none of them has an ugly name. The Facebook-owned messaging app has recently taken to banning users globally if they are found to be part of group chats with malicious or suspicious names, in some cases permanently. WhatsApp, which was recently in the eye of a spyware storm, has been under pressure for a while to address the problem of its platform being used to spread ill will.

In 2017, a string of mob lynchings and other killings was traced to rumours related to organ harvesting and child abduction that spread through the app. Among other things, the strict new policy is aimed at curbing child exploitation. WhatsApp said on its official blog earlier this year that the service relies on end-to-end encryption and advanced machine learning to identify—without accessing any messages—and ban users circulating “Child Exploitative Imagery”.