WhatsApp launches safety campaign to educate users on online safety

The three-month-long WhatsApp safety campaign will highlight simple yet effective ways to enable safety features and focus on the importance of safeguarding user accounts.

In an effort to create user awareness around safer digital practices, WhatsApp has launched an integrated safety campaign ‘Stay Safe with WhatsApp’ highlighting product features that empower users to take control of their online safety and ensure a safer messaging experience.  

The campaign focuses on educating users about WhatsApp’s in-built product features and safety tools that equip people with the necessary safeguards to help protect them from online scams, frauds and account-compromising threats.

The three-month-long campaign will highlight simple yet effective ways to enable WhatsApp safety features that come together to offer layers of protection to users as they spend more and more time online in their daily lives. The campaign also focuses on the importance of safeguarding your WhatsApp account to ensure you remain safe and protected at all times. 

Shivnath Thukral, Director, Public Policy India, Meta, said, “User safety is at the core of everything we do at WhatsApp which is why we’re launching our safety campaign “Stay Safe with WhatsApp,” in an effort to drive user-awareness around WhastApp’s safety tools and product features that can help keep users safe from online scams and frauds. Over the years we have added layers of security and protection with innovative features that empower users to take control of their online safety. This campaign is an important reminder for people on how they can safeguard themselves in today’s digital-first world and aims to reinforce consumer habits that ensure key safety features on WhatsApp become second nature to users so that they can stay safe from messaging scams and to protect their friends and family.” 

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In a bid to prevent abuse and promote online security, WhatsApp is focusing on communicating its core safety principles that can help keep users stay safe from online scams and frauds.

Key safety features highlighted in the campaign include: 

1. Two-step verification to add an extra layer of security to your account: WhatsApp allows users to add an extra layer of security to their account by enabling the Two-Step Verification feature, which requires a six-digit PIN when resetting and verifying your WhatsApp account. This is helpful in case a SIM card gets stolen or if the phone is compromised. 

2. Block and report accounts that are suspicious: WhatsApp is a private and safe space for people to communicate with their loved ones and people who have your phone number. However, at times when users receive problematic messages from unknown numbers, some of which may include suspicious links, request access to personal information, among others WhatsApp provides a simple way for users to ‘block and report’ the account to WhatsApp. Blocked contacts or numbers will no longer be able to call you or send you messages.

3. Privacy settings to control who sees your personal details: Users can control their personal details such as - Profile Photo, Last Seen, Online status, About, Status, and who sees it -  everyone, contacts only, select contacts, or no one. You can also control your online presence by selecting who can and can’t see when you’re online, for the times you want to keep your online presence private. Keeping your personal details visible to only your contacts can help safeguard your account against bad actors. 

4. Group privacy settings to ensure a safe messaging experience: WhatsApp’s privacy setting and group invite system allow users to decide who can add them to groups, increasing user privacy and preventing people from adding you to groups you don’t want to be a part of. If you find yourself in a group chat that’s not for you, you can choose to exit a group privately without having to notify everyone.