WhatsApp bans forwarding of these messages in view of fake news

With the aim of preventing the spread of fake and incorrect news through WhatsApp, WhatsApp on Tuesday announced changes in the rules for forwarding messages. As per the new change, you can now frequently forward messages to a single chat at a time. This update comes in line with the existing limit, in which users can forward a message only 5 times. Facebook-owned company WhatsApp has issued this step to prevent fake news from spreading during the Corona virus lockdown. Recently, information was revealed that WhatsApp has introduced a search option for its users to check the authenticity of forwarded messages, in which users can search any news on WhatsApp and check whether the news is true or fake.

As everyone knows, due to COVID-19 i.e. Corona virus epidemic, the whole world is currently going through lockdown, 21 days lockdown is in force in India these days. In such a situation when everyone is locked in their homes, people have increased their inclination to connect with the outside world online. The biggest increase has been in WhatsApp forward messages. In view of the huge increase in WhatsApp forward messages and the increasing spread of fake news, the company had set a limit for forward messages.

The new update means that users can send a frequently forwarded message to only one person at a time. However, this does not mean that users will not be able to send forward messages to more than one person at all. They can still send messages by copying the message and pasting it in the chat box.

This step of WhatsApp is welcome, which will definitely stop the spread of fake news.

Recall that in August last year, WhatsApp had introduced “Frequently Forwarded” to identify those messages. So that those messages can be identified which are being forwarded again and again. The latest update comes after the update in which you could send a forward message to only 5 people at a time. This change came in India in August 2018, but in the global market it was released in January last year. The company claimed that this change had resulted in a 25 percent decline in forward messages.

A recent report revealed that due to the Covid-19 lockdown, there has been a 40 percent increase in WhatsApp forward messages.