[APK Teardown] WhatsApp May Soon Restrict You from Creating Multiple Groups or Adding Multiple Participants at One Time

WhatsApp may soon roll out a new security feature to curb spam and the fake news problem.

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As most of you may be aware, Facebook-owned messaging platform WhatsApp is currently busy dealing with the fake news problem in India as well as a few other countries around the world. WhatsApp has taken various measures in the recent months to fight the problem but the fake news menace is proving quite difficult to curb. While performing a teardown of the latest WhatsApp 2.18.367 APK file, we at MySmartPrice found a few strings that suggest WhatsApp may soon introduce a new security feature to help fight spam as well as the fake news menace.

WhatsApp Could Soon Restrict Users from Creating Too Many Groups or Adding Too Many Contacts to Groups Too Quickly

The teardown revealed a few strings which suggest future versions of the messaging app will display a warning to users when they try to add too many contacts to an existing group or try creating too many groups in a short period of time. However, this does not mean that WhatsApp is planning to impose a limitation on the number of groups a person can create. When you try to add multiple participants to a WhatsApp group too quickly, the app will display a message saying "You've added too many contacts to groups too quickly. Try again later". Similarly, users will be shown a message saying "Can't create group because you've created too many groups too quickly. Try again later" when they try to create multiple groups in a short period of time. While it may soon be impossible to create too many new groups too quickly, users will still be able to create as many new groups as they wish. As mentioned earlier, the upcoming security feature is likely aimed at reducing spam and fighting the fake news problem. It is likely that the feature will be added to WhatsApp in the coming weeks.

As is usually the case with information revealed by an APK teardown, there is no guarantee of the feature actually rolling out as part of a future update to the regular WhatsApp app. It does, however, confirm that WhatsApp is actively working on fighting the fake news problem.