WhatsApp has posted a new blog post revealing the changes it's going to make for forwarding messages option. According to WhatsApp, people in India forward more messages, photos and videos than any other country in the world, which is the reason why WhatsApp is facing some backlash from the Indian government as the spam and misinformation spreads very quickly. Going forward, WhatsApp users in India will be able to forward a message to five chats at once. Not only that, but the instant messaging company will also be removing the quick forward button which appears next to the media message. These changes will be applicable to India, and they will be live in the next few days.
Coming to the WhatsApp quick forward disabling feature, if a user forwards a media file for five users and crosses the limit, then WhatsApp will disable the button. This is one of the steps by WhatsApp to curb the spam and misinformation on the platform.
“Today, we’re launching a test to limit forwarding that will apply to everyone using WhatsApp. In India – where people forward more messages, photos, and videos than any other country in the world – we’ll also test a lower limit of 5 chats at once, and we’ll remove the quick forward button next to media messages,” said WhatsApp in its blog post related to forward messages.
WhatsApp has recently rolled out a new feature in the form of Labelling Messages. All the forwarded messages on the platform now come with a new 'forwarded' label, which according to WhatsApp might slow down the spread of spam.
India is the biggest market for WhatsApp with over 200 million user base, but the company is facing some problems related to spam and lynching, where some people have said to be killed after seeing the spam messages on the platform. The Indian government also approached WhatsApp recently related to the lynching reports, and the Facebook-owned company stated it's working on new steps to reduce the spread of misinformation.
In other news, WhatsApp is also working on a suspicious link detection feature, which will go official in the next few weeks. This feature will essentially scan a link, and if the link is found to be suspicious, it will return a warning message to users if they try to open it.
