Avoid displaying theocratic media in Whatsapp

[Eejay]

A recent direction reminds us not to display anything other than links when sharing theocratic material electronically.

Without getting embroiled in a debate on whether Whatsapp is or is not social media, I notice that the app will automatically display a screenshot  occasionally when sharing links. Example below:

 

Does anyone know can this feature be turned off for links only?

[AndreaC]

If you remove the "https://" from the link, the preview will not be shown. 😊

In any case it is only a preview of the site, it is not an image that is saved on the device

[Hinata]

These image and descriptions are called Open Graph meta tags, and they have to be inserted by the webpage owners. This means the Branch has purposefully inserted them, so I would interpret them being fine with the images displaying when we share the links.

 

I would point out we are okay to share or send electronic files, images or videos through messaging apps. For example, the S-196 document provides a situation where sharing a video directly is useful:

 

*** S-196 p. 2 par. 13 Using Enjoy Life Forever! in the Ministry ***
13. In some areas, using the Internet to stream or download videos may be costly or impractical. However, in most languages, an audio recording of each lesson in Enjoy Life Forever! is available in JW Library, which includes the audio portion of each video in the lesson. Streaming or downloading only the audio recording might adequately reduce Internet costs. Some publishers use a messaging app to send a video to their students, since this method often reduces the file size of the video and thus reduces the cost of accessing it on a device.
https://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&docid=1201196&srctype=wol&srcid=share&par=26

 

Edited June 2, 2023 by Hinata

[carlos]

15 hours ago, Eejay said:

A recent direction reminds us not to display anything other than links when sharing theocratic material electronically.

 

I think the direction actually says we can send whole files or links. For example, this is in the sample conversation for the 2023 Memorial campaign:

 

*** mwb23 March p. 16 Sample Conversations ***
When Interest Is Shown: Play [or text or email] the video Remember Jesus’ Death.

 

There is no problem is sending a magazine or a picture, a song or a video to someone who might be interested. That is fair use and does not break copyright laws nor theocratic instructions. A different thing is posting media or files in social media where anyone, or a large number of people, can download it. Private use is ok, public use is not.

 

 

[Eejay]

 

2 hours ago, carlos said:

I think the direction actually says we can send whole files or links

I think my question was more about avoiding the display of graphics on social media elements of Whatsapp. 

 

15 hours ago, AndreaC said:

If you remove the "https://" from the link, the preview will not be shown. 😊

Thanks Andrea, such a simple tip.  ☺️