Meta-owned messaging service WhatsApp has rolled out a new feature that enables users to automatically silent incoming calls from unknown contacts.

“Silence Unknown Callers is designed to give you more privacy and control of your incoming calls. It helps to automatically screen out spam, scams, and calls from unknown people for increased protection,” WhatsApp said in a blogpost.

The unknown calls will not ring on WhatsApp users phone, but will be visible on their call lists.

WhatsApp has also introduced ‘Privacy Checkup’ to ensure everyone knows about the options of protection on the platform. This feature will guide the users through crucial privacy settings to choose the right level of protection.

WhatsApp Spam Call Saga

The Unknown Callers feature has been introduced following WhatsApp users in India reported a major surge in incoming international spam calls last month.

Taking to Twitter, many users complained that a major chunk of these spam calls had country codes belonging to Indonesia (+62), Vietnam (+84), Malaysia (+60), Kenya (+254) and Ethiopia (+251). The spam calls included video calls as well.

The scammers targeted the end-user with a larger scam, which starts from a job offer to offering money for menial tasks online.

Many of the spammers were using temporary mobile numbers to contact users and simply switch to another number when the app blocked them. It was not difficult for spammers to get separate numbers as a host of websites offer temporary numbers to send and receive messages.

After the issue accelerated, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) would send a notice to the Meta-owned messaging platform.

After the government’s talk with WhatsApp, the messaging service reportedly agreed to deregister mobile numbers used for committing fraud.

A WhatsApp spokesperson also claimed that the company was ramping up its AI & ML systems to bring down such incidents significantly. The new enforcement would reduce the current calling rate by at least 50%, the spokesperson said.

WhatsApp has recently launched Channels feature to streamline the exchange of updates and information, which will be a one-way messaging feature for the admins.

India serves as one of the biggest markets for WhatsApp, with close to 500 Mn users. Moreover,WhatsApp has 15 Mn Business users in India. Hence, it was not surprising that the spam calls affected Indian users significantly.

WhatsApp has already been under the government’s scrutiny for data privacy, and other issues.

In October last year, the Meta-owned messaging app witnessed a two-hour service disruption. Later, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) directed the messaging platform to file a report on the matter, asking the platform to share reasons for the disruption.