INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
In a bid to cut down on the spread of false information and spam, WhatsApp recently added labels that indicate when a message has been
Now the company is sharpening that strategy by imposing limits on how many groups a message can be sent on to.
Originally, users could
forward messages on to multiple groups, but a new trial will see that forwarding limited to 20 groups worldwide
In India, however, which is WhatsApp largest market with 200 million users, the limit will be just five
In addition, a ‘quick forward& option that allowed users to pass on images and videos to others rapidly is being removed from India.
&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,& the company said in a blog post.
The changes are designed to help reduce the amount of information that goes viral on the
service, although clearly this isn&ta move that will end the problem altogether.
The change is indirect response to a series of incidents in
The BBC recently wrote about an incident which saw one man dead and two others severely beaten after rumors of their efforts to abduct
children from a village spread on WhatsApp
Reportedly 17 other people have been killed in the past year undersimilar circumstances, with police saying false rumors had spread via
WhatsApp.
In response, WhatsApp — which is of course owned by Facebook — has bought full-page newspaper ads to warn about false
information on its service.
Beyond concern about firing up vigilantes, the saga may also spill into India upcoming national general election
Times Internet today reports that Facebook and WhatsApp plan to introduce a fake news verification system that it used recently in Mexico to
help combat spam messages and the spreading of incorrect news and information
The paper said that the companies have already held talks with India Election Commission.
