"This could serve as an important signal for recipients to think twice before forwarding messages because it lets a user know if the content they received was written by the person they know or a potential rumour from someone else," the company informed.
Previously, The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had written to WhatsApp to take appropriate measures to curtail the spread of fake news and provocative messages on its platform following a spate of murders in 9 states over the last month connected to fake messages on the social media platform.
To this, WhatsApp messaging service had announced that they are testing a new label to curb the spread of rumours on its platform. In this feature, they have also outlined steps, including a change that would clearly mark forwarded messages.
Here is what the new update is -
- The feature will indicate which messages you receive have been forwarded to you in the group or individually.
- This extra context is expected to make one-on-one and group chats easier to follow.
- This will helps you determine if your friend or relative wrote the message they sent or if it originally came from someone else.
- To see this new forwarding label, the users need to have the latest supported version of WhatsApp on their phones.
- WhatsApp also advised people to exercise caution while sharing forwarded messages.
WhatsApp on Tuesday published advertisements in key Indian newspapers to tackle the spread of misinformation. "Together we can fight false information," read full-page advertisements, urging users to check information before sharing it.