WhatsApp introduces Search the Web on Android, iOS, Web

WhatsApp today rolled a new feature on its platform. The feature dubbed as ‘Search the Web’ enables users to check the authenticity of a forwarded link by looking for it on the internet.

To give you some context, WhatsApp introduced doubled arrows in its chats as a mark to enable users to distinguish between messages coming from a close contact from the forwarded ones. Then this year, the Facebook-owned company restricted users from forwarding messages to more than one contact at a time. This was done in a bid to contain the spread of fake news on the popular messaging platform.

Now, WhatsApp is taking a step further by introducing a feature that would enable users to verify the authenticity of a post or a post containing a link by searching for it on the internet.

Starting today, WhatsApp will start showing a magnifying glass button in chats. Once users click on this icon in their chats, WhatsApp will redirect them to the web where they can check if the message is indeed coming from an authentic source. The company says that this feature works by allowing users to upload the message via their browser without WhatsApp ever seeing the message itself.

“Today, we’re piloting a simple way to double-check these messages by tapping a magnifying glass button in the chat. Providing a simple way to search messages that have been forwarded many times may help people find news results or other sources of information about the content they have received,” WhatsApp wrote in a blog post.

But there’s a catch. WhatsApp said it is rolling this feature out in Brazil, Italy, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, UK, and the US on the latest versions of WhatsApp for Android, iOS and WhatsApp Web. It is expected to be available in other countries including India in future.