WhatsApp, owned by Meta, announced its decision to create a new tool called “Communities”. The idea of the change is the possibility of creating groups with a greater number of people – currently, the available limit is 256 participants.
The novelty is similar to that of other messaging applications such as Telegram, which allows channels with hundreds of thousands of people. However, the company communicated that the resource will only be launched after the second round of elections that should take place in the country at the end of the year.
The measure generated controversy between Bolsonaro and the Superior Electoral Court, where the president said the decision was part of an agreement between WhatsApp and the TSE. However, the Minister of Communications, Fábio Faria (PP), stated that the decision took place within the company itself to contain the disinformation and mass shooting of political messages that generated investigations in the past.
Check out the note released by WhatsApp:
“As part of its ongoing dialogue with the authorities of the countries in which it operates, WhatsApp participated today (Apr 27) in a meeting with the Brazilian government to provide more information about the Communities feature and the company’s plans for its implementation in the country. . According to the schedule already disclosed, the implementation of the functionality in Brazil will only take place after the electoral period.
It is important to emphasize that the decision on the launch date of this resource in Brazil was taken exclusively by the company, in view of the reliability of the operation of the resource and its long-term business strategy. This decision was not taken at the request or by agreement with the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).
As previously reported, WhatsApp signed a memorandum of understanding with the TSE earlier this year that includes, for example, a chatbot, a whistleblower channel for accounts suspected of massive shootings and training for the electoral justice team. Among other digital platforms, the company has also been a signatory to the Program to Combat Misinformation since 2019. However, none of these agreements with WhatsApp makes reference to the Communities functionality or its launch moment, as this type of decision is up to the company.
On the other hand, in recent years, WhatsApp has made a series of strategic partnerships with the Brazilian government that, according to the ministries and related bodies, have brought efficiency in government communication and positively impacted millions of Brazilians, such as the chatbot with Ministry of Health at the beginning of the pandemic and the official CAIXA account on WhatsApp for communication with recipients of Emergency Aid.
We’re at the beginning of developing Communities to improve the feature before moving to the global release stage, which won’t be for several months. We will continue to evaluate the exact moment for the launch of the functionality in Brazil and we will communicate the date when it is set. We reaffirm that this will only happen after the October elections.”
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