Personal messaging platform WhatsApp on Tuesday informed that it will be capping the number of messages a user can forward at a time to one. "We are now introducing a limit so that these messages can only be forwarded to one chat at a time," WhatsApp said in a blogpost on Tuesday. WhatsApp said it would roll out the new change to its users worldwide starting today.
The Facebook-owned company added that it is restorting to the new limits to curb spread of misinformation amid the coronavirus pandemic. "We’ve seen a significant increase in the amount of forwarding which users have told us can feel overwhelming and can contribute to the spread of misinformation. We believe it’s important to slow the spread of these messages down to keep WhatsApp a place for personal conversation."
With various anti-fake news campaigners flagging off the rampant misuse of the messaging platform, WhatsApp had, last year, limited the number of forwards to five chats at once in India. It had also removed the quick forward button next to media messages and introduced "double arrow" labels to indicate they did not originate from a close contact.
These limits on forwarded messages to constrain virality "led to a 25 per cent decrease in message forwards globally at the time," WhatsApp mentioned in the blogpost on Tuesday.
The messaging platform has 400 million users in India--its largest market in the world.
Misinformation campaigns and fake news have been plaguing Indian political and social environment for a while now. Of the various social media platforms that have played a key role in spreading fake news in the country, WhatsApp has been one of the major offenders because of its popularity.
Recently, the Supreme Court had observed that "panic will destroy more lives than the virus".
In further efforts to contain misinformation campaigns, WhatsApp promoted a bot made by the World Health Organisation that provides information about the disease that has been vetted by healthcare professionals. The app has been used by more than 10 million people. WhatsApp also donated $1 million to the International Fact-Checking Network.
