Restrictions will be placed on frequently forwarded messages cousciously sent out to disrupt news around COVID-19.
WhatsApp is to impose a strict new limit on message forwarding as the Facebook-owned chat app seeks to slow the spread of fake news, the company has announced.
If a user receives a frequently forwarded message that has been forwarded more than five times, under the new restrictions, they will only be able to send it on to a single chat at a time. That is one fifth of the previous limit of five chats, imposed in 2019.
The change does not completely put a stop to mass forwarding, since ultimately a message can be passed on however many times a user is happy to hit the forward button.
But by inserting friction into the process, the company hopes to slow some of the most viral messages on its platform, such as the widely spread falsehood that coronavirus is related to 5G. That claim has led to the vandalisation of more than 20 phone masts in the past week.
“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,” said a WhatsApp spokesperson in a blogpost on Tuesday morning.
Comments