WhatsApp users can decide who adds them to groups

As people turn to groups for more important conversations, users have always asked for more control over their experience. Keeping that in mind, WhatsApp has introduced a new privacy setting that works as an invite system to help you decide who can add you to groups.

To enable it, go to Settings in your app, then tap Account > Privacy > Groups and select one of three options: "Nobody", "My Contacts", or "Everyone". "Nobody" means you'll have to approve joining every group to which you're invited, and "My Contacts" means only users you have in your address book can add you to groups.

In those cases, the person adding you to a group will be prompted to send a private invite through an individual chat, giving you the choice of joining the group. You'll have three days to accept the invite before it expires.

‘With these new features, users will have more control over the group messages they receive. These new privacy settings will begin rolling out to some users starting today and will be available worldwide in the coming weeks to those using the latest version of WhatsApp,’ WhatsApp said in a blog post.

The new privacy setting comes a couple of weeks before general elections in India, as social media platforms play a crucial part in running political ads to reach out to the masses. The company is also under constant pressure from the Indian government to curb the spread of fake news.

WhatsApp has more than 200 million users in the country, recently restricted forwarding messages to five chats at once.