WhatsApp has found a new way to stop you from receiving unwanted broadcast messages

WhatsApp users no longer have to worry about dealing with spam.
This is because the company has announced its latest plan to stop people and companies who send these unsolicited messages.
This new plan involves legal action.

WhatsApp has found a way to stop its 1.5 billion users in 180 countries from receiving spam messages.

From December 7, 2019, users will no longer have to deal with unsolicited bulk and "non-personal" messages. The Facebook-owned company made this announcement via an update on its website.

According to the statement, there are plans to take legal action against people who send these unwanted messages through its messaging platform.

Those who help others to spam users and even companies who publicly claim to use Whatsapp to send message blasts will also face legal action.

"This serves as notice that we will take legal action against companies for which we only have off-platform evidence of abuse if that abuse continues beyond December 7, 2019, or if those companies are linked to on-platform evidence of abuse before that date," the company said.

WhatsApp has overtaken Facebook as the most popular social media app in the world WhatsApp has overtaken Facebook as the most popular social media app in the world Pulse Ghana

These groups have been given almost exactly six months to shut down their operations.

Explaining the reason for the crackdown, the messaging app said, "WhatsApp is a private messaging platform originally built to help people message their friends and loved ones. Our products are not intended for bulk or automated messaging, both of which have always been a violation of our Terms of Service.

"We are committed to reinforcing the private nature of our platform and keeping users safe from abuse. This is why in addition to technological enforcement, we also take legal action against individuals or companies that we link to on-platform evidence of such abuse. WhatsApp reserves its right to continue taking legal action in such circumstances."

ALSO READ: This app wants to battle WhatsApp and Telegram by slashing data bills and allowing users to control their own data

How WhatsApp is currently dealing with spam

Prior to legal action, the app already had automated systems to identify and ban spamming accounts.

These systems were revealed in a white paper titled: 'Stopping Abuse: How WhatsApp Fights Bulk Messaging and Automated Behavior.'

Here are the ways WhatsApp is currently dealing with spam:

watching for phone numbers or IP addresses similar to those previously linked to suspicious behaviour, and preventing them from registering new accounts.
detecting users that send messages without taking the time to type first, which point to automated use.
banning accounts that quickly create a whole bunch of WhatsApp groups, or that add thousands of users to groups over a short space of time.
banning newly-registered accounts that try to send a lot of messages very quickly.
looking for high-intensity user behaviour that doesn't conform with the typical usage of tapping one message at a time, and forwarding content only occasionally.