Meta has announced new privacy features for WhatsApp users.
Users will be able to leave group chats silently, control who can see their online status and block screenshots on View Once messages.
Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said this would help keep WhatsApp messaging “as private and secure as face-to-face conversations”.
It will begin rolling out the features this month, highlighting them in a global campaign, starting in the UK.
Leave silently
The popular messaging app currently alerts all members of a group chat to someone leaving or being removed by default.
And while there are ways to disable this for individual group chats, the option to leave silently is not presented to users when they choose to “exit group” – sometimes causing awkwardness, embarrassment or drama for those trying to leave unnoticed.
