By Dipo Olowookere
A campaign aimed to educate users on ways to verify the information they come across before passing it on has been launched by WhatsApp.
This initiative, #YouSaid Campaign, according to the popular messaging platform, will help reduce the spread of false news in Nigeria.
“At WhatsApp, all personal messages are protected with end-to-end encryption because the safety and security of our users and their messages are important to us,” WhatsApp Public Policy Lead, Akua Gyekye, stated while commenting on the launch of the campaign.
“While we remain committed to creating a safe space for our users to communicate privately, we encourage everyone to verify any information they receive and confirm whether it is true or false before sharing it with other people.
“Regardless of the person you received the information from, as soon as you share any information, it becomes something people think #YouSaid.
“Our hope is that this campaign will open up a conversation on the importance of verifying information and thinking carefully about what people read, trust and choose to share,” Gyekye added.
It was gathered that the campaign offers tips for GB WhatsApp users to spot false news and take responsibility in minimizing its spread, by encouraging people to think carefully and check authoritative sources before deciding to share any information with their friends and family.
The four easy ways to reduce the spread of false news on WhatsApp include understanding what a ‘Forwarded’ message means, fact-checking information with other sources, looking out for messages that look different, and reading the message objectively.
WhatsApp explained that any message that has the ‘forwarded’ label (an arrow or double arrow icon) did not start with the person who sent it as they will also have received it from someone else before passing it on.
A double arrow icon and “Forwarded many times” label will be displayed when a message has been forwarded more than five times since it was originally sent and will restrict sharing to just one chat at a time.
This is because false news can go viral, and photos, audio recordings, and videos can be edited to mislead the reader but when a story is reported in multiple places and from trustworthy sources, it’s more likely to be true.
However, users have to look out for messages that look different. When such are received with misspelt words, wrong dates, awkward layouts, unrelated pictures and web addresses (URLs), they are a sign that the information could be false.
In all, users are advised to review the facts before sharing information as stories that seem hard to believe are often untrue.
