The spread of fake news and spam messages is one of the major problems social media networks are facing today.
Top social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc. have become a major source for people to get news update, information and also share views and influence other people's decision on trending topics.
Also Read: You Can Now Lock Your WhatsApp With Face ID Or Touch ID
However, the spread of fake news is one of the major problems that never seem to fade away on social media networks. Fake news has credit for so many deaths and destruction arising from several religious crises and political violence around the world today.
Messaging service WhatApp, which recently toppled its parent company Facebook to become the world most popular social network has introduced several features that combats the spread of fake news and spam messages.
Last month, we saw WhatsApp introduce a change that limit users from forwarding unlimited messages to just five messages.
Still on the spread of fake news and spam messages, WhatsApp said that it bans about 2 million problematic accounts on its platform each month to combat the spread of fake news and spam messages.
According to Venturebeats, Matt Jones, a software engineer at WhatsApp said the company uses a machine learning system from the company's previous experience with troublesome accounts to dictate accounts that will be problematic.
In fact so sophisticated is this machine that it has been able to ban about "20% of bad accounts at the time of registration."
"As with any communications platform, sometimes people attempt to exploit our service," WhatsApp said. "Some may want to distribute click-bait links designed to capture personal information, while others want to promote an idea. Regardless of the intent, automated and bulk messaging violates our terms of service, and one of our priorities is to prevent and stop this kind of abuse."