WhatsApp launches campaign to educate Indian users about privacy features

WhatsApp, on Tuesday, launched a campaign in India to educate users on the built-in layers of privacy protection added by the company over the years. The new features include leaving groups silently, controlling who can see you're online and blocking the screenshots for 'view once' messages. Around 2 billion people across the world use WhatsApp.

"This is our way of extending awareness and assurance to our users on how the new and existing built-in layers of protection help you message freely without compromising on your privacy," said Avinash Pant, director of marketing, at Meta India, "We want users to know that they always have a safe and private space on WhatsApp, no matter where they are."

A film was also released by the company to spread awareness. It shows an exchange between a father and son, showing the impact of WhatsApp’s built-in layers of protection on privacy. It is conceptualised by BBDO. In the coming weeks, the company will educate the users on each privacy feature through short films.

Among the new privacy features, WhatsApp has now allowed users to exit the groups without notifying anyone. Also, the users can now choose if they want to be seen as 'online' or not. They can also customise the list and choose who can see their active status and who cannot.

WhatsApp is working on a new feature that will enable screenshot blocking for 'view once' messages. It is expected to be rolled out soon. The users can also block and report the users who send spam or other problematic content.

The end-to-end encryption provided by WhatsApp allows no one, not even the company, to access the chats. The backups are also encrypted and can only be accessed through a password or an encryption key. 

The platform also introduced the disappearing messages feature. Users can choose between 24 hours, 7 days, and 90 days and the messages will automatically be deleted after that period.   

WhatsApp had also introduced a two-step verification feature that gives the users to set a six-digit PIN to provide an additional layer of protection. 

"It's a great privilege that two billion people around the world trust WhatsApp to deliver their personal messages everyday," Pant added.