Amid the spread of fake news over coronavirus pandemic, popular messaging platform WhatsApp on Tuesday limited the sharing of frequently forwarded messages to one chat at a time.
WhatsApp's new limit on frequently forwarded messages is aimed at combating the spread of fake news, misinformation amid COVID-19 pandemic, the company said.
The existing limit allowing users to forward a message for up to five times will continue as the new restriction is only for the frequently forwarded messages.
The Facebook-owned company last year introduced a feature which allows users to see a message which has been forwarded many times. These messages are labelled with double arrows to indicate they did not originate from close contact.
"In effect, these messages are less personal compared to typical messages sent on WhatsApp. We are now introducing a limit so that these messages can only be forwarded to one chat at a time," the company said.
As a "private messaging service," the company said it has taken several steps over the years to help keep conversations intimate. The limits on forwarded messages to led to a 25% decrease in message forwards globally at the time.
"...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," it said.
The world's most popular messaging service is also working directly with NGOs and governments, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and over 20 national health ministries, to help connect people with accurate information.
The Government of India is also using the service and has launched a WhatsApp number for those seeking information on COVID-19.
A WhatsApp text to 9013151515 will get you all the related information on coronavirus.
According to a study by data and consulting company Kantar, WhatsApp has experienced a 40% increase in usage. Facebook Inc, which own the popular messaging app, has seen very high levels of calling via WhatsApp in countries that are facing the COVID-19 crisis.
With the massive surge in use, WhatsApp has limited the time duration of videos that can be uploaded as 'status' in the country.
WhatsApp's status feature allows users to upload videos of up to 30 seconds. The messaging platform has now limited the time duration for the videos to be uploaded as status to 15 seconds.
