To Fight Fake News Amid CO.VID-19, WhatsApp Now Lets You Forward A Message Once Only

In a new attempt to fight fake news and misinformation spreading around its platform, on Tuesday, WhatsApp started limiting the times allowed for forwarding a message to one chat at a time.

Previously, users of the popular messaging app could forward a message to five times. But the new policy is only applied for frequently forwarded messages, which have been forwarded five or more times. This move is aimed to limit the spread of misleading information around the CO.VID-19 outbreak. Besides, WhatsApp has recently let its users verify a forwarded message.

With the pandemic growing fast in India and many parts of the world, people are forced to stay inside during lockdowns. Along with that is the increase in forwarding messages online. It’s noted in a company’s blog post that there has been a considerable rise in the amount of forwarding that its users pointed out as “overwhelming,” which may worsen the misinformation problem. Therefore, the firm has come to this decision.

However, the move only restricts the forward feature on the platform. Users can still manage to forward any message to as many people as they want by simply copying the message and pasting it in other chat boxes.

Despite that, this remains a positive and active action taken by WhatsApp at a time when people are flooded with news and information around the ongoing pandemic. The spread of fake news and misleading information is not a new issue, but rather an unresolved problem for all similar platforms and social networks.

In August 2019, WhatsApp added the Frequently Forwarded label on messages so that users can better identify messages not originating from their contacts. Last time when the firm limited the number of times for forwarding messages, it reduced 25 percent in message forwards worldwide.

In March 2020, the company also tested a feature that helps users fact-check a message by searching it on the internet.

Due to CO.VID-19, WhatsApp saw a 40% growth in usage. Considering that, efforts to limit misinformation and fake news are more important than ever.

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