The WhatsApp platform, from the company Meta, reported this Friday (26) that it will not launch the “Comunidades” feature in Brazil, announced in April, before 2023.
“We are excited about the value the Communities functionality will bring to social organizations and businesses to manage their group chats. While we are making progress, we do not expect to launch Comunidades in Brazil before 2023.”
The launch was expected after the Brazilian presidential elections in October. That’s because the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) and Whats App signed an agreement in February of this year to face the disinformation disseminated during the electoral process. The platform, then, committed not to implement new features until the end of the election period.
Whats App, however, reiterated that the decision to announce the launch for next year is a personal decision of the company, not related to the TSE agreement. In July, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office in São Paulo had already recommended that the platform postpone implementation until next year, claiming that this year we are “at a time when fake news about the functioning of institutions and the integrity of the system of Brazilian vote may jeopardize the democratic stability of the country.”
about functionality
Communities are designed to “bring separate groups into one in a structured way,” according to the company. In an official statement, for example, Whats App exemplifies the use of the functionality by a school, which may have, in the same community, groups with parents, students, volunteers, and focused on extracurricular exercises.
In addition, advanced tools for administrators – such as controlling which groups are included and sending ads – will be added to the update.
Some new features of Communities are now available to the general public, such as the option to react to messages with emojis. Check out all the news planned:
Reactions – Emoji reactions are coming to WhatsApp so users can share their opinion without flooding conversations with new messages.
Admin Deletion – Group admins will have the ability to remove erroneous or problematic messages from the conversations of all users in the group.
File Sharing – We will increase the file sharing limit to 2GB to facilitate project collaboration between users.
Voice calls with more users – with just one touch, it will be possible to call up to 32 people. The design will be refreshed for those times when talking face-to-face is better than texting.
Source: CNN Brasil
