If a message has been forwarded more than five times, WhatsApp stop you sending it to more than one contact at a time. The prevention of bulk spamming and forwarding has, the company said, dramatically reduced the spread of such posts.
WhatsApp told TechCrunch, “We recently introduced a limit to sharing ‘highly forwarded messages’ to just one chat. Since putting into place this new limit, globally there has been a 70% reduction in the number of highly forwarded messages sent on WhatsApp.”
In the age of the coronavirus pandemic there has been a sharp rise in the spread of misinformation from unreliable sources that users often forward believing to be true. With the restriction of only being able to forward such messages one at a time, people simply have stopped bulk-spamming one another at an alarming rate.
It shows how the mechanics of modern communications apps can encourage sharing misinformation as much as the nature of the content itself.
Facebook-owned WhatsApp is having to react, along with its parent company, to the changing world we are living in in 2020. WhatsApp raised the video call limit on its service from four to eight people this week as it has seen a sharp rise in use as people stay in touch during a global lockdown.
Henry is Tech Advisor’s Phones Editor, ensuring he and the team covers and reviews every smartphone worth knowing about for readers and viewers all over the world. He spends a lot of time moving between different handsets and shouting at WhatsApp to support multiple devices at once.
