New feature every WhatsApp user should know

WhatsApp has introduced a new feature that will help curb the spread of viral misinformation buy identifying the origin of the message.

The users can simply see a ‘forwarded’ indicator label at the top if the message was not composed by the sender.

The move by WhatsApp is in order to help the continuous fight against fake news especially across social media platforms.

However, a message will necessarily not have the ‘forwarded’ label if the message was copy-pasted.

The new feature can only be found in the latest WhatsApp version.

In May 2018, President Uhuru Kenyatta signed into a Computer and Cyber crimes Bill which curb the spread of false information.

Under the law, a person who intentionally publishes false, misleading or fictitious data or misinforms with intent that the data shall be considered or acted upon as authentic, with or without any financial gain, commits an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding Sh5 million or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both.

According to ICT Expert Godfrey Osotsi the new law will firmly deal with cyber bullying and cybercrime incidences in the country.

“Cybercrime is real and cybercrime is big; it is estimated that annually the whole world losses about Sh60 trillion: the crime is real and the law ought to have been in place like yesterday,” he said.