Following the launch of message reactions, WhatsApp is currently working on a system that will allow users to manage the reaction notifications they get. The Facebook-owned messaging app was first observed working on message reactions in August, similar to what is seen on Instagram, Twitter, or iMessage, and the feature is still in the early phases of development. The feature that sends notifications when someone reacts to a message has received mixed reactions.
According to a recent report by WABetaInfo, some users prefer to get reaction notifications, while others desired not to be notified. Given this, the messaging platform has chosen to allow users to customize how reaction notifications work.
The report added, users will be able to disable reaction notifications and even select a unique notification alert sound for them. The most recent development was found in WhatsApp iOS beta version 2.21.210.15, which was submitted earlier this week via the TestFlight beta program.
Facebook reacted to a news article claiming that its artificial intelligence technology has had minimal impact on reducing and removing violent content from the social media network on Sunday, according to internal papers obtained by the Wall Street Journal in 2019, the social network’s engineers estimated that the company’s algorithms eliminate just a small proportion of harmful content that violates rules.
“The problem is that we do not and possibly never will have a model that captures even a majority of integrity harms, particularly in sensitive areas,” a senior engineer and research scientist wrote in a mid-2019 note, according to the Journal.
The company has been under increased pressure for doing a better job of moderating content, particularly following the Jan. 6 incident on Capitol Hill, which showed how online hatred can cross over into the real world.
However, Facebook claims that the prevalence of hate content on the site has dropped over 50% in the last three quarters to around 0.05 percent of content views, or about 5 out of every 10,000 views.
The company has been spending more time in recent weeks following the disclosure of thousands of documents and internal communications by Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower, revealing that Facebook was aware of the risks of its products but downplayed these effects publicly. So far, lawmakers from all political parties have expressed increased interest in holding Facebook responsible.
