We’re sure that some of you have experienced this in the past where you have been added to a group filled with random strangers, presumably for the purpose of spam. It can be annoying, although the good news is that it isn’t too difficult to quit these groups. However there is good news for WhatsApp users in a future update.
According to the folks at WABetaInfo, it seems that a future update to WhatsApp will prevent users from being randomly added to groups without their consent. The settings will allow users to choose who can add them to a group. These choices include “Everyone” which means that anyone who has your number, “My contacts”, or “Nobody”.
Presumably users will want to choose “My contacts” as it is a safer choice, or they can opt to not be added to group chats entirely. However in the event that someone outside of your contact list tries to add you to a group, you will receive an invitation to join a group that you can choose to accept or reject.
This will be useful in situations where relatives or friends are trying to organize a gathering and you’re added to a group whose participants might not be people you’re familiar with. No word on when the feature will be released, but it could be worth looking forward to. It should also in a way help to cut down and deal with the spam and fake news, a problem that WhatsApp seems to be having in recent times.