The current communication process has evolved hand in hand with the digital world and the different platforms for sending and receiving messages between users. The flow of information and the way people share it has also changed, giving a fundamental role to social networks, including WhatsApp, where the tool to forward messages is key in the dissemination of news.
But like everything in this life, there are advantages and disadvantages to forwarding a WhatsApp message, especially due to the easy proliferation of false news between contacts and group chats. That is why the world’s most popular instant messaging application has deployed a new restriction on the tool.
From now on, WhatsApp messages can only be forwarded once for each conversation or group chat, avoiding “highly forwarded messages”, which often harass users, and in the worst case, contribute to disinformation.
This restriction is in addition to other measures that WhatsApp has implemented to mark forwarded messages, which since last year have shown a double arrow icon so that the user can identify the origin of the information.
That user considers that it can be overwhelming and can contribute to spreading disinformation, “WhatsApp said in a statement.
This is not the first time that WhatsApp takes action on the matter, but previously, a restriction had been applied to the forwarding of messages for 20 contacts simultaneously, and up to 5 chats in some countries with a high incidence of fake news such as India.
At the time, message forwarding dropped 25 percent, and now the limit is reduced further to just one WhatsApp conversation.
The company took the opportunity to remember that it works together with the World Health Organization and more than 20 ministries of health to disseminate important and truthful information to the population, in order to eliminate the spread of false news, in line with its parent company. Facebook serves as an information center on the coronavirus.
