Rakuten Viber announced new features in the channels: comments on posts, scheduling posts and hidden lists of participants. In the channels, bloggers and brands have the opportunity to share news, attract new audiences and explore e their interests. In general, anyone can create a channel on Viber.

What’s new in Viber feeds:

Comments: Subscribers can now exchange views and discuss with other channel members. Comments are turned on and off at the discretion of the channel administration;
Scheduling publications: authors now have the ability to plan future posts in advance. To do this, when publishing a post, you need to press the send button and select the desired time;
Hidden channel list: This feature allows users to maintain privacy. The list of channel members will be available only to admins and superadmins, and users will only see the total number of members.

The channel administration will be able to turn the community into a channel with the help of a special bot: https://chats.viber.com/community2channel. The transition to the channel works in one direction, after the transition it will be impossible to convert the channel back to the community. All previous posts will remain available, and community members will become members of the channel.

Simultaneously with the launch of these new features, Rakuten Viber signed the EU Code of Conduct on Countering Illegal Hate Speech Online. Viber will now track, analyze and remove public hostile statements in channels on its platform. To this end, the company will cooperate with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Justice and Consumer Protection and a network of specialized non-governmental organizations.

If aggressive or derogatory content appears on the channel, users or one of the participating organizations will be able to mark the post as unacceptable and will soon be reviewed by the Viber moderators. Viber will consider such messages within 24 hours provided by the Code.