WhatsApp launches #TakeCharge campaign: 5 ways to ensure your safety on the internet

WhatsApp announced the launch of a week-long #OnlineSafety campaign in partnership with Yuvaa on February 8, 2022. The campaign, #TakeCharge will commence on ‘Safer Internet Day on Feb 8 with a series of infotainment content on Yuvaa’s Instagram page to raise awareness about online safety, encouraging people to understand the various safety tools and resources that can be used to stay in control online. 

Through the voice of a diverse set of creators, the campaign will touch upon various aspects of online safety and the best practices that people should follow to stay in control of their safety on the internet. Youth creators Taneesha Mirwani, Anchal Agarwal, Anmol Sachar and Shreya Kapoor will share important content about internet safety such as understanding – best online practices, digital payments, group controls, and others to educate users on managing their online presence and interactions better. 

Talking about the latest #TakeCharge user-safety campaign Abhijit Bose, Head of India, WhatsApp, said, “WhatsApp is an industry leader among private end-to-end encrypted messaging services in promoting online security. Besides continuously innovating on the product side to build safety features, WhatsApp also deploys dedicated teams of data scientists, analysts, security experts as well as AI & ML to keep users safe online 24x7x365. Additionally, it has been our continuous endeavour to raise awareness and education about user safety. Our current Safer Internet week campaign is another such attempt to help users understand the importance of online safety and how they can #TakeCharge to navigate the internet safely.”

This Safer Internet day, practice five simple rules to #TakeChargeofYourSafety:

• Be careful of what you click or believe
• The Internet is privy to spam messages, cyber threats and frauds, be it winning a cash prize or a fully sponsored trip from an unknown number. These messages often include links to a website or request access to your personal information with disguised malware. One must think before they click – If you receive it on WhatsApp, you can simply report accounts to WhatsApp by flagging a specific message. To do so, you can simply long-press a particular message to either ‘report’ or ‘block a user’.  

• Think twice before forwarding messages
• WhatsApp has created a label for all forwarded messages and limits the number of times you can forward messages as a way to encourage users to reconsider before sharing. If you aren’t sure whether something’s true or don’t know who wrote the message, do not forward it, as it may be fake information.

• Make online payments using secure sites
•  The Reserve Bank of India has been reiterating the practice of safe digital banking by taking all due precautions while carrying out any digital (online/mobile) banking/payment transactions. Be vigilant of cashback fraud, do not scan a QR code to receive money, check URLs and domain names received in emails / SMSs for spelling errors, among others. 

• Control what you share
• Protecting one’s personal information and privacy is essential when using the internet. Sharing sensitive information such as address, phone number, passwords, credit/ debit card numbers, and bank account information should be avoided. On WhatsApp, users have the power to control their personal details such as – Profile Photo, Last Seen, About, Status and who it’s seen by – everyone, contacts only, or no one.

• Enable Two-Factor Authentication
•  Two-Factor Authentication provides additional safety to the user. WhatsApp allows users to add an extra layer of security to their account by enabling the Two-Step Verification feature. It requires a six-digit PIN when resetting and verifying the WhatsApp account, in the event of the SIM card being stolen or if the user’s phone is compromised.