As if we didn’t already have enough scaremongering around us, a WhatsApp rumour that refuses to die is currently doing the rounds.
Specifically, many people are saying that a third blue tick can be seen in a beta version of WhatsApp. It’s supposed to indicate that someone has taken a screenshot of the conversation. However, you should not believe this because it’s a false claim.
In fact, this rumour is not new: such information, which also turned out to be “fake news” at the time, began circulating at the end of 2021 and beginning of 2022, and is now spreading again. The claim is being spread everywhere, from classic chain letters on WhatsApp itself to posts on TikTok and other short video platforms.
If you see a message claiming that WhatsApp is about to get a third tick, do everyone a favour and don’t forward it. If you really want to forward something, make it a message like below, which will help to counteract the unfounded scaremongering:
Foundry
In general, major features of WhatsApp are announced in advance by the parent company Meta prior to testing. These generally go through beta testing (which sites such as WABetaInfo report on) before a potential public rollout.
But none of that has happened this time around, so you can safely ignore it.
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This article originally appeared on our sister publication Macwelt and was translated and adapted from German.
