In an effort to tackle the spread of fake information, WhatsApp is limiting all its members to forwarding any single message up to five times.
The Facebook-owned business had already introduced the policy in India six months ago.
It was gathered that the move followed a number of mob lynchings that were blamed on fake reports spread via the service.
Until now, users elsewhere could forward messages up to twenty times. The update to the app’s rules was announced at an event in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Reports in the Indian press, stated that a company blog – that has not been shared elsewhere yet – said the firm had made its decision after carefully evaluating the results of its half-year-long test in the country.
It added that the forward limit significantly reduced forwarded messages around the world.
So, theoretically, a single user can now only forward a message up to one thousand, two hundred and eighty other individuals rather than the five thousand, one hundred and twenty people figure that had been possible previously.
The restriction comes at a time WhatsApp and Facebook’s other services are under scrutiny for their role in the spread of propaganda and other untruths online.
Last week, Facebook announced it had removed five hundred pages and accounts allegedly involved in peddling fake news in Central Europe, Ukraine and other Eastern European nations.
It also recently announced that it had employed a UK-fact-checking service to flag content on its main platform.
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