The Independent's journalism is supported by our readers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn commission.
WhatsApp: New feature lets you demote group admins and take control of chats
Using it on someone will turn them into standard participants of the conversation
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.WhatsApp has started allowing users to “dismiss” administrators of group chats.
The messenger app has built a new feature, called “Dismiss As Admin”, that lets group admins demote other group admins, and take control of conversations.
If you use it on someone, they’ll lose all of their admin privileges, and become standard group chat participants instead.
Only group admins are allowed to add participants to an existing chat. You also have to be an admin to remove people from group chats.
The feature is available in the beta version of WhatsApp for Android, and is under development on iOS, according to WABetaInfo.
You can sign up to the beta version of WhatsApp here.
If you’re an admin of a group chat, you’ll be able to access the feature simply by tapping Group Info.
The unusual feature, which could easily be used to annoy other people, may or may not roll out to all users in the future.
WhatsApp recently started testing another new group chat feature called Restricted Groups, which lets you force everyone else in your group to stop chatting.
If you’re the group admin, you – and only you, if you’re the only admin – will be allowed to send any messages.
Everyone else will only be able to read them.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments