New Delhi: WhatsApp has introduced a new Safety Overview feature in India to reduce the risk of users being added to potentially harmful or fraudulent groups by unknown contacts. The rollout comes amid heightened efforts by Meta and WhatsApp’s security teams to address misuse of the platform by organized scam networks.
The feature activates when a user is added to a group by someone not saved in their contact list. Before opening the group chat, users are presented with key details including the group creator’s name, the number of participants, and general safety tips. This allows individuals to make an informed decision, either to exit the group immediately or proceed to view its content. Notifications from such groups remain muted until the user chooses to stay.
WhatsApp stated that the tool is designed to increase transparency around unsolicited group invitations and give users more control over their interactions. The platform also confirmed it is working on additional safeguards, including prompts that offer context when users start chats with unknown numbers.
With India being one of WhatsApp’s largest user bases, the platform has come under increasing pressure to strengthen user protection measures. The Safety Overview is part of a broader approach to improve digital safety, aiming to reduce the risk of scams before they occur rather than relying on post-incident reporting.
By offering contextual information at the point of contact, WhatsApp aims to support safer engagement and limit the reach of coordinated scam campaigns targeting users at scale.
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