Credit: https://wabetainfo.com/whatsapp-is-rolling-out-the-restrict-group-feature/#more-1883
WhatsApp has been making a lot of changes to its group chat feature lately. Considering how popular the group feature has become over the years, the Facebook owned messaging app has opted to make it even more appealing to users. A new “Restrict” feature, according to WABetaInfo, is being added to give admin more power.
Still in beta, the feature is available in the iOS, Android and Windows version of the app. The Restrict feature is already rolling out to every user on 2.18.132 on Android. As a matter of fact, Android users will need to upgrade to version 2.18.132 in order to remotely receive the activation of the feature on their phones.
Until this update was rolled out by WhatsApp, every member of a group can edit the group description, icon and subject; but that has now changed with the latest update. The new feature means that non-admins can no longer modify the group description—a feature that is now exclusive to admins alone.
The Restrict feature is located in the Admin Settings, which is a new option within the Group Info that is visible only to the Admin. The Admin can also grant permission to edit the group info to any member of the group.
In other WhatsApp news, the Facebook subsidiary recently updated its policy to raise the minimum age on its messaging service to 16. This is in compliance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law.
The update means you will now be required to confirm if you are at least 16 years of age before you can be allowed to use the messaging app. This will come into effect when users are asked to agree to WhatsApp’s new terms of service as provided by a new WhatsApp Ireland Ltd entity expected to come into effect in the next couple of weeks.
WhatsApp’s parent company Facebook, has a data policy that is quite different to what the messaging app is adopting. In the case of the social networking’s policy, teenagers aged between 13 and 15 will have to comply with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law.
On Facebook’s part, parents or guardian will have to give permission to teens to allow them share information on the network. Anything other than this will deny them [teens] access to full personalized version of Facebook.
In a blog post, WhatsApp said:
We are not asking for new rights to collect personal information with this update. Our goal is simply to explain how we use and protect the limited information we have about you.
Though, WhatsApp said it currently has no plans to share account information of users with Facebook, that does not mean it won’t do so in the foreseeable future:
We are not currently sharing account information to improve your product and ads experience on Facebook. As we have said in the past, we want to work closer with other Facebook companies in the future and we will keep you updated as we develop our plans.
