WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging app, and with that it has the responsibility to keep things straight.
People can talk about everything on messaging apps. In the society where free speech is highly regarded, no laws or regulations can strictly forbid anyone from saying anything they want to say.
But when it comes to the spread of misinformation, disinformation and malinformation, there should be something that can be done. Especially during the novel 'COVID-19' coronavirus that brought many parts of the world on its knees.
As the messaging app with the most users, WhatsApp introduces an strict limit so messages "can only be forwarded to one chat at a time." The update was introduced early in April.
In less than a month, the limit has already started to pay off.
“We recently introduced a limit to sharing ‘highly forwarded messages’ to just one chat. Since putting into place this new limit, globally there has been a 70% reduction in the number of highly forwarded messages sent on WhatsApp,” said a WhatsApp spokesperson in a statement.
For pretty much of WhatsApp's existence, the messaging app allowed users to forward a single message to as many as 256 people with just a few taps.
Initially, these messages were not labeled as forwards. And because WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption made it almost impossible for anyone, even itself, to know who might have been using the app to spread hate speech or calls of violence, one the result was the crisis in India.
In the country, WhatsApp was linked to violence that killed many.
It was back in 2018 that WhatsApp started experimenting with limits on the number of times a message could be forwarded. It also began labeling forwarded messages, to then added the two arrows to show that a message has been repeatedly forwarded.
In 2019, the popular messaging app started limiting the number of people users can forward a single message to just five.
While announcing the restriction earlier this April, WhatsApp said message forwards on its service had dropped by 25% globally in two years. But the coronavirus pandemic made it experienced a “significant” surge in the “amount of forwarding.”
What seemed to be WhatsApp returning to square one, WhatsApp was forced to introduce an ever stricter forwarding limit.
“This change is helping keep WhatsApp a place for personal and private conversations. WhatsApp is committed to doing our part to tackle viral messages,” the spokesperson said.
On the other side, experts said that WhatsApp still has more to do to battle against fake information.
As a messaging app with the most users, WhatsApp has been the key to the spread of misinformation during the coronavirus pandemic. While WhatsApp reports a huge drop in the number of highly forwarded messages, the company didn't say anything about the metrics it used to get into that conclusion.
What's more, there are ways to circumvent WhatsApp's one person forward restriction.
"There is still a vast amount of misinformation on the platform," said Center for Countering Digital Hate Chief Rxecutive Imran Ahmed.
"The 70% figure seems to mask a lot of complexity on a topic where the nuance is critically important. In a time when people cannot meet face-to-face, the misinformation crisis is being entirely driven by social-media spread."