WHATSAPP IS TESTING MORE CHANGES TO FORWARDED MESSAGES TO CURB SPREAD OF FAKE NEWS

WhatsApp began as simple messaging platform meant for friends and family to communicate with each other. Somewhere down the road things changed and the platform become just another means to spread misinformation and propaganda. Lately, things have been getting a little out of hand in India where the spread of fake news via WhatsApp has led to cases of mob violence and lynching. In an effort to curb this problem, WhatsApp is testing some changes to its forwarding feature.

According to WhatsApp's latest blog post, the company has started testing ways to limit forwarding on the messaging platform. Up until now, we have been able to forward messages to multiple people at once. But this is a feature that has also been used to rapidly spread false information. Without getting into a lot of detail, WhatsApp simply said that the test will apply to everyone using WhatsApp.

Notably, the company mentions India, which does the maximum amount of forwarding (of messages, photos and videos) compared to any other country in the world. WhatsApp states that in addition to the testing of of limiting forwarding, it will also test lowering the limit of simultaneous forwarding to 5 chats at a time and users in India will also see the quick forward option next to media messages disappear.

WhatsApp does not explicitly mention that its test is response to the recent cases of lynching that resulted in the death of over two dozen people in India, but the timing does coincide. Recently, WhatsApp rolled out a new labelling feature that tells you if a message you have received has been forwarded, which the company feels will help inform users that message could be a potential rumour. The messaging platform has also had full-page ads in India informing people on the spread of fake news.

The government, however, feels that WhatsApp needs to do more and earlier this week it sent a second notice to the messaging service, urging them to do more to curb the spread of false information. The government warned that in the absence of adequate checks, it will treat WhatsApp as an 'abettor' of rumour propagation and legal consequence will follow.

The latest announcement from WhatsApp sounds like a response to the government's appeal, although only time will tell whether the new limits will help in stopping the spread of misinformation. "We believe that these changes - which we'll continue to evaluate - will help keep WhatsApp the way it was designed to be: a private messaging app," WhatsApp's blog reads.