WhatsApp is working on a private newsletter tool
In recent months, WhatsApp has rolled out several features to make group communication easier and more accessible. This includesCommunities, which lets you bring multiple groups under one umbrella for easier management. You can even send announcements and updates to all groups inside a community at once. Now, WhatsApp is reportedly working on another new “one-to-many tool for broadcasting information,” tentatively called Newsletter.
WABetaInforeports that “Newsletter” is the codename for WhatsApp’s upcoming tool to broadcast information to an “undefined and large” number of people. Seemingly, the feature will let you receive updates from local officials, your favorite sports team, brands, and others, even if they are not in your phonebook.
Unlike regular chats, you can’t reply to messages broadcasted through this upcoming tool in WhatsApp. Further, newsletters shared over the platform won’t have end-to-end encryption (E2EE). Since this will be one-way communication, the lack of E2EE should not pose any security risk.
WhatsApp is building newsletter feature with privacy in mind. So, your number will remain hidden and masked when you create or subscribe to a newsletter to prevent your identity from being revealed. Others will also have no way of seeing what newsletters you are following, and vice versa.
Reportedly, an optional Newsletter section will appear within the Status tab of WhatsApp. This will be a private space, so you can control what newsletters you see here. The hidden code in WhatsApp indicates newsletters won’t use algorithmic recommendations or ads, with the content being shown chronologically. The feature will also support handles for easy discoverability of newsletters.
With WhatsApp group chats, it’s possible to reach up to 1,024 people simultaneously, while Communities bumps that number to 5,000. This is enough for individual use, but brands and content creators need to reach an even wider audience. Another problem is that your number is visible in group chats and communities, which is a privacy risk. It looks like WhatsApp is developing Newsletter to bypass these limitations.
For now, Newsletter is still in an early development stage, and it could be a while before the feature rolls out to the public.
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