Hajra Naz
With the announcement of Advanced Chat Privacy, WhatsApp seeks to have better user privacy management. This new setting ensures more privacy in individual and group chats by providing an extra layer of control over what can be accessed/shared.
With Advanced Chat Privacy, both the users and the people they converse with will have their media automatically set to export and download disabled, meaning these chats cannot be exported. Meta AI is also disabled within these chats, meaning users cannot access Meta AI for prompts or questions that would otherwise be answerable.
The main aim of this feature is to give assurance to all chat participants about the safety of sharing messages and media, especially in terms of group conversations where topics are delicate or private.
There is still the option to take screenshots, but WhatsApp has hinted screenshots may be blocked altogether in coming privacy updates to better defend against privacy breaches.
In the words of WhatsApp, this is helpful for people in medical-support or sociopolitical communal movements where group members may be strangers.
Currently, WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption, and with this feature upgrade sociopolitical movements, social issues, support groups, and privacy aggravated Whatsapp’s previous features of chat lock and disappearing messages, the app’s dedication to privacy has been further enhanced.
Privacy with Advanced Chat can be turned on by tapping on the chat name and selecting the “Advanced Chat privacy” feature.
This feature will be available in both group and individual chats over the next few months.
Along with offering end-to-end encryption, this update, in conjunction with disappearing messages and chat locks, further strengthens user privacy which WhatsApp has commited to.
