WhatsApp is limiting the number of messages you can forward at once—yet again. The new restriction will hopefully further prevent spam and misinformation, which is something not uncommon.
Previously, WhatsApp was able to let users forward messages to up to 20 individuals and groups. In 2019, the limit went down to just five individuals and groups instead. The five-recipient limit was put into place after the spread of rumours on social media led to killings and lynching attempts in India.
Misinformation spreading through WhatsApp has also been shared in Malaysia, in which a WhatsApp message that claimed a dead COVID-19 patient was found alive just before the burial was shared many times. The Ministry of Health even has to debunk the viral message as fake news.
WhatsApp forwards are so common that the folks at Last Week Tonight remarked on it. Particularly, John Oliver focused on the spread of files that can often contain badly edited fake news regarding topics like COVID-19 and vaccines.
With WhatsApp’s new limitation, users will only be able to forward one message at a time—but this will only apply to already forwarded messages. If you’re the owner of the message, you’ll be able to send it to everyone you want.
Currently, on both Android and iOS, my forward limits are still to five recipients as the feature is still in beta. However, it will be released globally in a future update.
I personally don’t feel like I’ll be missing out much with the future update because I rarely forward messages to several groupchats and individuals anyway. It would definitely help make it harder for people to forward misinformation—but it won’t be impossible.
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