Channels in WhatsApp: The Channels function comes to Germany

WhatsApp is introducing the Channels feature, which was previously available in 10 countries, in an additional 150 countries – including Germany. Channels allow users to follow specific organizers or people and see new content from channels, almost like on Instagram or Twitter.

Channels can be set up via the new ‘Current’ tab. This feature is currently being rolled out by WhatsApp and should be available to all users over the next few days, possibly without an app update.

WhatsApp promises in Blog postSpecial emphasis has been placed on privacy and that it should not be visible to other followers of the channel who also follow the channels. However, this promise does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the extent to which Meta itself will use this follower information for its own purposes, for example to finance the service or new channel functionality.

The user should be able to find new channels using the search function, and there will also be a filtering function that can be used, for example, to find the most active, newest and most popular channels. Subscribers can respond to posts in the form of emojis, which are also visible to other followers, but should not be customizable to a specific user.

In the future, channel operators will have up to 30 days to process their reports before they are deleted from the server. WhatsApp users can forward these channel messages in chats and group chats. Forwarded messages will contain a link to the channel post. The latter will therefore represent an advertisement for the channels and the functionality of the channels as well as it will serve as a source link so that the authenticity of the post can be easily verified.