WhatsApp will soon allow group admins to delete messages sent by other group members

Over the past few years, WhatsApp has added numerous features that help WhatsApp group admins to moderate their groups in a better way. Now, it looks like the Facebook-owned messaging client is working on another feature that many group admins have on their wishlist.

According to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp can give group admins the power to delete messages sent by other group members. To understand why this is such a big deal, it is important to know WhatsApp’s current limitations regarding group messaging.

WhatsApp currently only gives the ability to delete their messages to the original sender of the message. WhatsApp will not allow you to delete these messages after the specified time has elapsed since they were sent – even the original sender.

After this, the only option left for the sender is to select the “Delete for me” option. However, it only deletes the message from their phone when it is visible to the rest of the group. The addition of this feature along with existing content moderation tools is likely to help WhatsApp leave its tag as the hub for fake news.

Unverified WhatsApp forwards‌s have led to numerous terrible events around the world especially in India and untested rumors have led to numerous murders and mob judge cases. The fact that this feature has the potential to save lives is a good reason to make this feature available as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, as the feature has not yet reached one of the beta releases of WhatsApp, we will have to wait a while before the ability to delete WhatsApp group messages finally comes in a stable version of the app.