WhatsApp has announced a new control for group administrators to limit activity so that they are the only member of the group who can send messages. WhatsApp groups can include up to 256 participants.
The approach could greatly alter what it’s like to be a part of a WhatsApp group, changing them from a place for conversation to a place for receiving announcements from, say, a school group, political organization, or professional group.
The new feature is the most recent way Facebook-owned WhatsApp has given administrators more control over groups.
Last month, WhatsApp launched a series of new features, including group descriptions that can be set by admins only and which detail the purpose, guidelines, or topics of discussion for a group, and a new policy that group creators can no longer be kicked out of a group they started.
Facebook has been criticized for allowing its end-to-end encryption chat app to be used as a means to spread fake news and to incite animosity toward racial or ethnic groups as a result of fake information, particularly during elections in India last month.
To enable the setting, WhatsApp users on Android as well as iOS are required to update their apps to the latest version. Users can then open a group chat and tap on “Group Info,” tap Group Settings and find the “Send Messages” option and then select “Only Admins.” This will allow only group admins to converse while other participants will receive a footer which reads that the admin has disabled others from conversing in the group.
