WhatsApp users will no longer be allowed to forward messages to more than one company, company officials said. WhatsApp is pushing international restrictions internationally to limit the spread of fake news and misinformation. The new decision was announced on Tuesday. WhatsApp is the leading communication app under the Facebook company.
The existing feature, which allows users to forward a message to up to five people, has been modified and added. The latest move by the Facebook-owned company is to help slow down the spread of false information during the outbreak of coronavirus, which affects people around the world. WhatsApp also provides a feature to allow users to check forwarded messages online.
Due to the spread of coronavirus and lockdowns in many countries, including India, WhatsApp forwards has increased sharply. The company said in a blog post that a significant increase in the amount of forwarding would result in the spread of misinformation.
The latest update is to restrict users from sending a single message to multiple users at once. However, this does not mean that users cannot forward messages to multiple users. They can still copy a message and paste it into the textbox of various chats. Users can use the Forward option multiple times to send a single message to different users.
This change is a welcome step. Because this will definitely have an impact on the spread of fake news. This is common in the instant messaging platform. WhatsApp is a messaging system with over 200 billion users worldwide. Whatsapp is used by 40 crore people in India alone.
A recent report by consulting firm Cantor found that WhatsApp’s use increased by 40 percent due to the spread of Covid-19. WhatsApp is also very popular among other social media applications. The latest version of WhatsApp will be released soon for Android and iPhone users.