Meta Launches WhatsApp Channels Features To More Countries

WhatsApp Channels is extended to many other countries (photo: Meta)

JAKARTA - After debuting for the first time in Singapore and Colombia, Meta has expanded the presence of WhatsApp Channels features for all users in Egypt, Chile, Malaysia, Morocco, Ukraine, Kenya, and Peru.

Introduced last June, WhatsApp Channels is a feature that is claimed to help make the application a "personal broadcast message product".

👋 hey friends in 🇪🇬 🇨🇱 🇲🇾 🇲🇦 🇺🇦 🇰🇪 🇵🇪WhatsApp Channels is now rolling out for you. Find, share and follow Channels that interest you 📲

— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) July 24, 2023

"Hey friends in your arms, why don't you think about it? Let's take care of it, let's take care of it" Channels are now rolling out for you. Find, share and follow Channels that interest you

Furthermore, the company owned by Mark Zuckerberg said users would be able to follow content about hobbies, sports teams, updates from local officials, and others.

"Channels is a one-way broadcast tool for admins to send text, photos, videos, stickers, and polls. You can find hobbies, sports teams, updates from local officials, and more. You can also visit channels from invited links sent in chats, emails, or posted online," Meta wrote last June.

As admin Channels, your phone number and profile photo will not be shown to followers. Likewise, channel followers, their phone numbers will not be shown to admins or other followers.

"It's like the way we build messages, we don't believe the Channels update has to last forever. So we're just going to keep the channel history on our servers for up to 30 days and we're going to add a way to make updates disappear faster than followers' devices," the company added.

Furthermore, admins will also have the option to block screenshots and advance from their channels. In addition, admins can decide who can follow their channel and whether they want their channel to be found in the directory or not.

"Given the purpose of Channels is to reach a wide audience, the channels are not end-to-end encrypted. We think there are some cases where end-to-end encrypted channels for limited audiences may make sense, such as nonprofit or health organizations, and we are exploring this as an option in the future as well," concluded Meta.