WhatsApp Limits Sharing Of Frequently Forwarded Messages From Tuesday, April 7

WhatsApp has also launched a Coronavirus information hub and has even partnered with the central and state governments to launch WhatsApp chatbots where it will discuss COVID-19-related queries.

Representational Picture (AFP)

New Delhi: WhatsApp from today will make a limitation on the sharing of frequently forwarded messages to only one chat at a time. This move is an attempt to control the spread of misinformation amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The social media messaging giant in a statement said, "Today we are announcing a new limit so frequently forwarded messages can only be forwarded to one chat at a time. This limit kicks in once a message has been previously forwarded five times or more. This is the latest limit that WhatsApp has set, making us one of the few products that have taken steps to constrain virality and place limits on how people can send messages,". WhatsApp has also launched a Coronavirus information hub and has even partnered with the central and state governments to launch WhatsApp chatbots where it will discuss COVID-19-related queries. According to the report, WhatsApp is already testing a feature that lets users verify forwarded messages on the web. The feature, which includes a magnifying glass on a forwarded message, is available in the beta forms of WhatsApp on Android and iOS. In the meantime, here are some already available WhatsApp features that can help you expose fake news: Meanwhile, WhatsApp already has some features that can help in exposing the fake which is circulating on a larger scale.

• When you receive a forwarded message, there will be an arrow mark on the message to indicate that the person who sent the message is not the original source.
• Messages which have been forwarded many times are marked with two arrows to indicate that they have been forwarded repeatedly and have been floating around for quite some time now.
• You can now tap on a message and press the 'Info' option to see how many times a message has been forwarded.

This is not the first time such kind of limitation has been imposed by the social media messaging giant. Last year, WhatsApp had restricted the forwarding option to five chats globally. The instant messaging service has further limited this to one now. According to the company, its attempt led to a 25% decrease in message forwards globally at the time. This is a notable move by the app that has over 400 million users in India. But this move will certainly help in constraining the virality of unproven information.