WhatsApp makes forwarding messages harder in fight against infodemic

Once upon a time, forwarding any message to lots of contacts on WhatsApp was as easy as tapping a button. Now, as the messenger service grapples with yet another wave of false information and misleading viral messages, forwarding is getting harder.

WhatsApp messages that have already been widely forwarded can now only be forwarded to one chat at a time and not distributed to multiple people, the Facebook-owned service announced last week.

Until now you could forward messages to up to five chats simultaneously.

The pandemic has seen much false information spreading on WhatsApp, including conspiracy theories about links between the coronavirus and 5G wireless Internet.

WhatsApp has long been under pressure to do more to stop the spread of false information, which has ranged from election influencing messages in Brazil to fake news that led to lynchings in India.

Part of the problem is that messages at WhatsApp have end-to-end encryption, meaning their content is only visible to users in plain text, not to the service itself.

While this is a good thing for user privacy, it’s a bad thing in the fight against false information, as WhatsApp can’t take direct action against misleading viral content or hate campaigns.

That’s why the company is instead trying to make it harder to pass on messages.

Last year the company rolled out a feature that showed users that messages were being forwarded with an arrow icon and also limited forwarding to five chats. – dpa

Source: TheStar