Social media has been in a frenzy over this alleged new feature on WhatApp. It all started when on January 23, a satire news and humor based website 8shit published a piece that from February 5, WhatsApp will let others know if you screenshot their conversations. Even though, the website’s disclaimer’s clearly states, “All its content is fiction (except those under the “serious” category) and shouldn’t be taken as real. All references, names and marks or institutions in this web are used as contextual elements, like in any novel or science-fiction story,” people on social media went a little too crazy after the “news”
According to 8shit, “Jan Koum, the CEO of WhatsApp announced that the next version of the application is going to include the option of being notified if someone screenshots your conversation. This is an option requested by a lot of users lately, and according to him “after all these years, we’ve reached the conclusion to add it”.
Pakistani Twitterati, as has been the norm, took it upon themselves to let everyone know of THE news.
Whatsapp is coming up with feature of letting the person know if someone takes ScreenShot of his/her msgs!
— Hamza Mir (@MEEEERUU) January 25, 2017
It didn’t take long before this spread like wildfire and became a big “mess”
So Whatsapp is going to have ss feature too which would notify the other person if you take screenshot of the convo :)))))
— Sgk. (@ItsOmorfi_k) January 25, 2017
Some people were concerned for the soon-to-be-out-of-business phuphos
Whatsapp to give screenshot notifications soon. How are the group phuppos feeling??
— Doc. (@drhouse00) January 25, 2017
And this digital Javed Akhtar waxed lyrical over this “news”
Whatsapp to introduce the screenshot notification ..
Mere mehboob mere sanam sab ki dostia hongi khtam ??— Abdul Ahad (@being_Ahad94) January 26, 2017
Some people took it so seriously that they even came up with unique solutions to evade sending the notification
How to safely take a WhatsApp Screenshot:
Open conversation, turn WiFi off, take a screenshot, turn WiFi on!
Thank me later.— Saad Kaiser Khan (@SaadKaiser) January 26, 2017
However, fortunately (or unfortunately?) there is no such new feature on WhatsApp
The only latest update that is mentioned on the official WhatsApp blog is regarding the new WhatsApp calling feature.
A similar hoax, concerning the same style of notification feature on Instagram started doing rounds on social media, a few weeks back. The Instagram officials revealed that it was applicable only for their “ephemeral stories” i.e. the Snapchat-style Instagram Stories, and not the pictures.
Pakistanis can finally stop freaking out now for WhatsApp is definitely not launching a screenshot feature, at least not anytime soon.
Happy screenshotting. Phupho-ize all those WhatsApp groups.
Cover image via: thesun.co.uk