Situation:

Misinformation is a huge problem around the world. But during the COVID 19 pandemic, this problem becomes even more serious and detrimental.

Brief:

How to prevent the spread of misinformation shared on WhatsApp.

Objectives / Project Scale:

With over 2 billion users on our platform, WhatsApp was responsible for keeping them safe from the spread of misinformation and while keeping them updated about the credibility of news, articles, links, frequently forwarded messages etc. shared on WhatsApp.

Budget:

Confidential

A simple and innovative solution inside WhatsApp’s UI to fight misinformation during the global pandemic to safeguard the lives of our over 2 billion users.

For our brand is crucial to make sure the information shared on our platform is trust worth it.

And being a brand with more than 2 billions users it is also a Social responsibilities with the World in general.

While WhatsApp is encrypted and no one, including WhatsApp can see what our users message inside the app, we can gather the data when a message is forwarded too many times to contribute to spread of misinformation—another pandemic within the COVID 19 pandemic.

If a message was forwarded more than 5 times, the forward icon in our UI changed into a search icon, which let our users search and verify misinformation directly from within the app, integrated with Google’s search engine. We launched this feature globally to help the community to curb the spread of misinformation by turning the problem into the solution. While we launched this feature during the pandemic, this will contribute to curb misinformation for all our users in perpetuity.

With over 2 billion users on our platform, WhatsApp was responsible for keeping them safe from the spread of misinformation and while keeping them updated about the credibility of news, articles, links, frequently forwarded messages etc. shared on WhatsApp.

With over 2 billion users on our platform

• 3 millions pieces of misinformation debunked per month

• 20% retention rate.

• 315 MM impressions from the media in the first week alone.