WhatsApp starts rolling out Search the Web functionality to help fact check viral messages

If we talk about one of the most famous messaging applications WhatsApp, then we should also be concerned about a lot of misinformation and rumors that are being shared on the platform.

Separating fact from the fiction is very important and to address the mentioned issues, WhatsApp is starting to rolling out a new feature that allows the users to quickly search Google for frequently shared messages to see if there is more information online available.

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When a message has been forwarded many times on WhatsApp, the messaging application displays a special icon to let the users know that the nature of the message is not original. This icon helps WhatsApp users to identify the incorrect information going viral.

The Facebook-owned messaging application is testing a method to double-check the messages like these by tapping the magnifying glass button in the specific chat. This newly launched feature uploads the WhatsApp message via the user’s default browser without the company reading itself the contents.

This feature was originally spotted in March, but WhatsApp is now starting to deploy it to the users in Brazil, Italy, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US). It is pertinent to mention here that this WhatsApp update won’t label information as being true or false directly but just allows the messaging application users to research the results of a simple web search themselves.

This Search the Web functionality will be available to the users using the WhatsApp on the Android and iOS devices, as well as the web client.