WhatsApp is expanding its community tools with a new way for users to organize events within group chats.
Announced on Wednesday, the Facebook-owned messaging app is introducing an event creation feature that allows anyone in a group to set up an event that others can RSVP to.
Mark Zuckerberg, announced the news on his WhatsApp Channel, saying “If you’re in a WhatsApp Community, you can now create events in your groups and reply to admin announcements. Over the next few months more groups will be able to create events.”
As explained by WhatsApp: “With events it’s now easier for people to plan their get togethers directly in WhatsApp, whether it’s setting up a virtual meeting or birthday dinner. Anyone can create an event and others can respond so the whole group knows who is coming.”
In a blog post, WhatsApp stated: Since launching Communities, it’s been exciting to see how people with common interests – neighborhoods, school associations, hobbyists and more – use the feature to keep groups that belong together connected and organized. To help bring communities even closer together, we’re introducing a new way for people to organize events on WhatsApp, and launching organized replies to Announcement Groups so members can respond to important updates from admins.
Once an event is created, it will appear on the group’s info page and those who plan to attend will receive a notification as the event date approaches.
This new event planning capability is initially rolling out to groups within WhatsApp’s Communities feature, with a broader release to all groups coming in the months ahead.
In addition to event planning, WhatsApp is also enabling replies in Announcement Groups within Communities.
Administrators can now send updates that community members can respond to, though notifications for these replies will be muted by default to prevent disruptions.
“By restricting accounts rather than outright banning them, WhatsApp aims to offer users an opportunity to correct their behaviour without causing them to lose access to their data entirely. By imposing a temporary restriction, WhatsApp can address problematic behaviour without permanently banning users from using WhatsApp, minimising significant disruption to the messaging experience,” mentions the report.
“Thanks to the latest WhatsApp beta for Android 2.24.10.5 update, which is available on the Google Play Store, we discovered that WhatsApp is working on an account restriction feature,” WABetaInfo reported.
Alongside these Community updates, WhatsApp is testing a new account restriction feature designed to combat abuse and spam.
As discovered by the sleuths at WABetaInfo, some accounts exhibiting suspicious behaviour may temporarily lose the ability to initiate new chats as a penalty.
Those with restricted accounts will see a notification when attempting to message someone new, informing them that their account privileges have been limited due to violations of WhatsApp’s terms of service.
The restriction is meant as an alternative to outright banning accounts, which can lead to data loss.
By keeping restricted users on the platform in a limited capacity, WhatsApp hopes to curb abusive activities while still allowing them to receive messages from existing chats.
It remains to be seen how broadly this restriction system will be implemented.
WhatsApp has introduced a feature that allows group members to create and manage events, complete with RSVP options, primarily available in WhatsApp Communities.
Administrators can now send updates that members can respond to, with reply notifications muted by default to minimize disruptions.
The feature aims to reduce spam and abuse by restricting the ability of flagged accounts to initiate new chats, while still allowing them to participate in existing ones.
Affected users will receive a notification when they attempt to start a new chat, explaining that their privileges are limited due to policy violations.
The event planning feature is rolling out to Communities first, with a broader release expected in the coming months. The restriction feature is currently in testing.
WhatsApp is presently trialing a fresh functionality aimed at limiting user accounts’ ability to send messages.
When an account undergoes restriction on WhatsApp, users will find themselves unable to initiate new chats for a designated period, serving as a temporary penalty for specific breaches.
Nonetheless, it appears that restricted users will retain the capacity to receive messages and respond to them within existing chats and groups, thereby ensuring vital communication channels remain open.
WhatsApp employs automated tools to identify abusive spam-like behaviour, automated or bulk messaging, or other actions that infringe upon its terms of service.
It’s important to emphasise that these tools are unable to access the content of our messages and calls due to end-to-end encryption.
Instead, they depend on distinct behavioural patterns to detect suspicious activities, such as the frequency of message transmission or the utilisation of automated scripts.
The people who are restricted on WhatsApp will be seeing a pop-up box whenever they try to chat with another person.
The messaging app will also inform them that their account has been restricted because of sending spam, automated or bulk message .
New way to organise eventsWith events it’s now easier to plan get togethers directly in WhatsAp.
Any member can initiate an event for others to RSVP, ensuring full visibility of attendees within the group.
The event will be accessible on the group’s information page, and attendees will receive timely notifications as the event approaches.
Initially, events will be available to Community-affiliated groups, with a gradual rollout to all groups in the following month .
Along with this, the Meta-owned app has also introduced replies to Announcement Groups, so admins can hear from their members while keeping these groups an easy place to catch up on what’s happening in your Community.
Responses are organized and condensed to provide a contextual view of discussions, while notifications are muted universally to minimize interruptions for all users.
Also Read: WhatsApp Communities feature coming soon: Check details inside!
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