Users can now decline KakaoTalk group chat invites from non-friends

KakaoTalk, South Korea’s ubiquitous mobile messenger app, has finally let users decline unwanted group chat invites from people outside of their friend list, a much-anticipated move for those who have experienced stress or discomfort over exiting group chats.

However, if the inviter is on a user's KakaoTalk friends list, the user will be automatically added into the group chat.

The new feature, which was added as part of a KakaoTalk system update last week to version 10.1.5, requires activation by the user in the “Chats” menu in the app's "General Settings."

The change comes after years of demands from users to allow them to choose whether or not to accept a group chat invitation to avoid uncomfortable or annoying situations.

There have been reports of cases where some used it as a means of school bullying by repeatedly “inviting” a user back into a group chat after he or she had left, and inflicting verbal violence on the user as a group.

In late March, Rep. Lee Hun-seung of the ruling People Power Party proposed a bill which required local messaging service providers to allow underage users the choice of accepting or declining invites to group chats of three or more people.

The new feature is also expected to help avoid spam invites for advertisement purposes such as provision of stock information.

As for an option to decline an invitation from someone on one’s friend list, the messenger firm said it has no plans to make it possible as of now.

It also remains to be seen whether KakaoTalk will adopt a feature that allows users to quietly exit group chats without the message “so-and-so has left the group.”

In February, Rep. Kim Jung-ho of the Democratic Party of Korea submitted a revised bill that would mandate local messaging service providers to allow the quiet group chat exit feature.