New WhatsApp update makes forwarding messages hard to stop the spread of coronavirus misinformation
WhatsApp has introduced significant restrictions on the mass shipping of messages in an effort to stop the spread of misinformation. Lik...
https://tech-blog24.blogspot.com/2020/04/new-whatsapp-update-makes-forwarding.html
WhatsApp has introduced significant restrictions on the mass shipping of messages in an effort to stop the spread of misinformation.
Like other social networks, WhatsApp has seen an increase in users spreading hoaxes, rumours, and different kinds of bogus stories about coronavirus and other information events.
Now it will prevent messages being forwarded in bulk to groups. Instead, users might have to work harder to pass the information on. If a message is being forwarded, users will only be able to send it to one chat at one time, instead of five.
WhatsApp can also be testing a quality that would display a tiny magnifying glass next to any such messages. Users will then be able to click that and be taken to a search for your message, to let them find articles that can debunk the message or shed further light on any claims found within it -- and not forward them if they locate the message is not correct.
The features are intended to stop users from forwarding messages that have not necessarily been checked and are very likely to add false claims. Not all of the messages are necessarily about WhatsApp, with widespread memes such as that the"Martinelli" video warning and fears around the"dancing of the pope" surging in recent weeks as more users than ever spoke on the app.
WhatsApp noted that mass forwarding might also feel"overpowering," as well as helping spread misinformation. "We think it's very important to slow the spread of those messages down to keep WhatsApp a place for individual conversation," it said in a blog post.
The app already marked messages that were forwarded multiple times, adding twin arrows to show they had started life several messages past, which they"did not originate out of close contact." Doing this was intended to show that the messages"are less private when compared with typical messages delivered on WhatsApp," it stated.
However, it allowed those messages to operate like some other on WhatsApp, enabling it to be forwarded onto classes in the same manner.
Now any message that has picked up that emblem -- by merely being plotted five times -- will only have the capacity to be passed on a single conversation. Previously, the limit was five chats simultaneously.