WhatsApp is expecting to see a number of changes this year, and this latest announcement could help change the way we spread information on social media.
According to Reuters, the popular instant messaging app has announced that starting Monday (21st January), users can only forward the same message up to five times. This is in an effort to fight the spreading of “misinformation and rumours”. This limit was first implemented in India earlier last July after a series of rumours spread widely on social media, which led to murder cases and even lynching attempts.
Source: The Indian Express
Prior to this latest change, users could forward the same message to 20 different groups or people. Before this limit of forwarding messages up to 20 times, users could reportedly forward messages to 256 recipients.
However, while a limit could help curb the spread of misinformation to some degree, tech news portal, The Verge, pointed out that since messages can still be forwarded to groups that have up to 256 people, a message can still be forwarded to nearly 1,300 individuals even with this newly imposed limit.
Source: PC Tech Mag
Another big change to the instant messaging app that was recently unveiled was the planned introduction of targeted ads on its status feature, according to WhatsApp’s founder, who left the company in 2017.
What do you think about this latest change WhatsApp has introduced? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Also read: You Will Soon See Targeted Ads on WhatsApp Starting 2019, Here’s Why
