The clout of group admins

There are group admins of various hues, evolving in multiple public, private, professional and non-professional WhatsApp groups.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

I had never taken the role of WhatsApp group admins seriously until the last month. As the sole admin of our family group for five years after my brother’s sudden passing, I considered it to be only an invisible role. However, my perspective changed after being removed from a residents’ WhatsApp group, which I visited only occasionally.

Initially, I was amused and relieved. After all, the constant “good morning” messages, celebratory posts, discriminatory and toxic reels, and myriad complaints did not make an inspiring concoction for me to partake in even occasionally. The admin who expelled me posted a public message for me and called, but I missed both. To her annoyance, my son, who was already irritated with my post-retirement interests in residents’ groups and was unaware of this group, answered the call.

Being a non-resident member, I was saved from an unpleasant face-to-face encounter. However, I felt compelled to call the admin since she seemed to take her role too seriously despite being only one of the admins. I informed her that I had inadvertently activated the disappearing messages feature and assured her I had no issues with the group’s posts. I could not tell her that I rarely visited her group’s account and as a strong advocate of freedom of expression, I would defend everyone’s right to share their thoughts until my last breath even if I completely disagree with them. I also advised her that in a large group like hers, the activation rights for disappearing messages must not be shared with the members to prevent unwanted activation. She sounded pleased with my submission and forgave me, perhaps due to my newly earned status as a retired senior citizen. She also included me in her new WhatsApp group. After all, she could not afford to lose a single vote, given the upcoming RWA election.

This episode suddenly made me realise the growing influence of a new power class of “social bureaucrats” or the group admin babus, who believe they play an essential role in social media and their local communities. An Internet search confirmed that the group admins had indeed gained substantial clout during the past few years, as evidenced by legal rulings concerning their responsibilities related to inappropriate content. Most interesting, a court had to order the reinstatement of an expelled WhatsApp group member in Uganda in 2023.

There are group admins of various hues. During the past decade, I noticed how they have evolved in multiple public, private, professional and non-professional WhatsApp groups. I never found the institutional/organisational WhatsApp groups interesting, as these are mere reflections of the organisational hierarchy. As WhatsApp gradually became the most effective channel for global misinformation and political propaganda, neutral moderator group admins became rare and are now mostly found in private family groups where no one dares to offend uncles and aunts.

Professional group admins are generally lenient and welcoming during the initial months of the membership drive when members are added in large numbers regardless of internal factions. However, the group admins start showing their true colours as soon as the desired membership strength is attained. Professional and non-professional WhatsApp groups usually have multiple group admins but only one wields all the powers while others remain inactive. The admins frequently add and occasionally remove members based on real or imagined misconduct. During an admin war, I witnessed one removing a professional and another adding him the same day. While deleting undesirable messages is common, instances of admins victimising members due to group rivalry are not uncommon. Texting duels among admins of different factions who are not on talking terms happen frequently. The WhatsApp platform is littered with inactive and dying groups controlled by a few authoritarian admins of one faction as members of other factions desert them.

Finally, my recent encounter with the group admin has given me a newfound respect for WhatsApp group admins. After all, they are no less omnipotent and omniscient than the babus of India, who can make or mar your career as well as your social life.

informnd@gmail.com