WhatsApp Group Safety Context Card
According to information shared on Tuesday, WhatsApp is bringing a new card for group chats that will be displayed after a user adds them to a group who is not among their contacts. This card is shown in the chat window and contains information about the group that will provide users context about the group.
The new context card for group chat will separately contain the name of the WhatsApp user who added them to the group. A sample screenshot of the feature in action shows that the card displays a user-defined name, denoted with a tilde symbol (~) when an unknown user sends a message in a group chat.
Users will also be informed that they were “added by non-contact” to a group. The context card will also show the new member the name of the user who created the group. The name will largely depend on what the group creator has added to his WhatsApp settings.
If users have been added to a group they don’t want to be a part of, the context card includes a safety tool option to report problematic content. If users do not want to be a part of the conversation, they will also see an Exit Group button to leave the group.
WhatsApp group safety methods
In 2019, WhatsApp introduced a simple option under Settings > Account > Privacy > Groups that allowed users to block strangers from adding them to groups through the app’s privacy settings. When enabled, users will receive an invitation to join a group when someone outside their contact list tries to add them to the group.
Once a user is invited to a group, they have 3 days to accept it. The invite comes as a direct message and users can’t be added to the group until they tap the Join Group button on the invite. This may be the best option for users who want to avoid being automatically added to a group by unknown users, while still being given the option to join after seeing information about the group and some of its members.