WhatsApp succumbs to the pressures coming from all over the world, and today it made a new very important decision that affects phone users all over the planet, it being imposed because of the Coronavirus. Because a lot of false information is spreading non-stop through WhatsApp at the moment, the application has decided to further limit the possibility of resending, forwarding, messages that have been received from various people, friends or not.
WhatsApp more than a year ago, it limited the possibility of resending messages to more than 5 people, but now it takes an even more radical decision, limiting resending, forwarding, to a single person. WhatsApp said that when it detects that a message has been re-sent en masse to and by many people, it will automatically limit the possibility of re-sending that message to more than one person, the measure being a very good one.
WhatsApp: Last Minute Measure Taken Today due to COVID-19
WhatsApp until last year, it had a function that allowed the resending of messages to a maximum of 256 people, which created a vast network of distribution of false information. Because in India this led to the deaths of some people, the people at WhatsApp limited resending to only 5 people, and now they take another radical decision, limiting them to only one person, which is meant to limit even more the distribution of false information regarding the Coronavirus.
"We know that many users share useful information as well as funny videos, memes and reflections or prayers that they find meaningful. In recent weeks, people have also used WhatsApp to organize public moments of support for frontline health workers. However, we've seen a significant increase in the amount of submissions that users have told us can feel overwhelming and contribute to the spread of misinformation. We think it's important to slow the spread of these messages to keep WhatsApp a place for personal conversations."
WhatsApp reacts after a lot of pressure was put on the company by various governments, but also very important international organizations, and this measure was the only logical one. WhatsApp is used by various people, or entities, in bad faith, to distribute false information en masse, so limiting re-senders to a single person will undoubtedly reduce the distribution of false information globally.
WhatsApp announced that the measure applies from today, but only for those messages that are re-sent very quickly by many people, so we are not talking about a limitation that applies to any messages at all.
