WhatsApp has put heavy restrictions on forwarded messages to try to stop the spread of coronavirus misinformation.
From today, messages that WhatsApp thinks are “frequently forwarded” can only be forwarded to one chat at a time.
“Frequent forwards” are messages that have been forwarded five times already. They’re marked with double arrows in WhatsApp, to try to show that they are not original.
WhatsApp calls them “less personal” messages, and acknowledges they can contribute to the spread of misinformation.
It’s not the first time that WhatsApp has clamped down on forwarded messages. In 2018, it put a limit on forwarding to five chat groups at a time in India, after a number of killings by mobs based on false information forwarded by WhatsApp.
That change was rolled out worldwide six months later, in January 2019.
