BENGALURU: WhatsApp’s new restrictions to curb the flow of highly forwarded messages has shown quick results. The new restrictions, which were implemented earlier this month, have caused a 70% drop in the number of ‘highly forwarded messages’ sent on the platform.
On April 7, the company had said messages that are forwarded five times or more, can be sent to only one person or a group at a time. This was announced amid rising cases of misinformation around coronavirus. The government has been asking social-media platforms to rein in on fake news, rumours and hate speeches going viral and at times leading to violence or causing health hazards.
Previously, when WhatsApp, for the first time, had put a limit of sending any message to a maximum of five people in 2019, the platform had seen a drop of 25% in overall forwards.
“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. This change is helping keep WhatsApp a place for personal and private conversations,” a WhatsApp India spokesperson said.
The drop of 70% is of significance as WhatsApp has 400 million users in India, its largest market consumers. Thus, it has one of the strongest viral effects in terms of messages or videos quickly reaching a score of people in India.
Globally, it has 2 billion users. With a national lockdown underway, Indians have been spending more time on WhatsApp and the company last week doubled the number of people in a group call to 8, as reported by TOI.
“In some ways, this is a relatively simple way to do it (than banning Twitter accounts spreading hate speech). It's almost a non-discriminatory universal measure. It’s not targeted at ‘right-wing’ or ‘left-wing’ but has an impact on virality of transmission of information. When you can slow down the spread of information during times like these, it’s good,” said Arvind Narrain, a founding member of Alternative Law Forum (ALF), a lawyers' collective which focuses on critical research and sustained legal interventions in social issues.
Experts said this is also an indication that when platforms make it more difficult to send messages recklessly, people exercise restraints. TOI reported in its April 8 edition saying WhatsApp was hoping the new policy would trigger this reaction.
During the pandemic, various WhatsApp messages have been circulating, ranging from false information on how to fight the virus as well as sensitive issues such as targeting a particular community and accusing them of the spread of the virus.
While WhatsApp’s latest measures seem to have had an impact, users, often with political patronage, have been gaming previous policies by sending messages from different numbers. The Indian government has been pushing WhatsApp to break its end-to-end encryption in order to track users who spread hate speech or rumours. WhatsApp has resisted such requests here.
On April 7, the company had said messages that are forwarded five times or more, can be sent to only one person or a group at a time. This was announced amid rising cases of misinformation around coronavirus. The government has been asking social-media platforms to rein in on fake news, rumours and hate speeches going viral and at times leading to violence or causing health hazards.
Previously, when WhatsApp, for the first time, had put a limit of sending any message to a maximum of five people in 2019, the platform had seen a drop of 25% in overall forwards.
“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. This change is helping keep WhatsApp a place for personal and private conversations,” a WhatsApp India spokesperson said.
The drop of 70% is of significance as WhatsApp has 400 million users in India, its largest market consumers. Thus, it has one of the strongest viral effects in terms of messages or videos quickly reaching a score of people in India.
Globally, it has 2 billion users. With a national lockdown underway, Indians have been spending more time on WhatsApp and the company last week doubled the number of people in a group call to 8, as reported by TOI.
“In some ways, this is a relatively simple way to do it (than banning Twitter accounts spreading hate speech). It's almost a non-discriminatory universal measure. It’s not targeted at ‘right-wing’ or ‘left-wing’ but has an impact on virality of transmission of information. When you can slow down the spread of information during times like these, it’s good,” said Arvind Narrain, a founding member of Alternative Law Forum (ALF), a lawyers' collective which focuses on critical research and sustained legal interventions in social issues.
Experts said this is also an indication that when platforms make it more difficult to send messages recklessly, people exercise restraints. TOI reported in its April 8 edition saying WhatsApp was hoping the new policy would trigger this reaction.
During the pandemic, various WhatsApp messages have been circulating, ranging from false information on how to fight the virus as well as sensitive issues such as targeting a particular community and accusing them of the spread of the virus.
While WhatsApp’s latest measures seem to have had an impact, users, often with political patronage, have been gaming previous policies by sending messages from different numbers. The Indian government has been pushing WhatsApp to break its end-to-end encryption in order to track users who spread hate speech or rumours. WhatsApp has resisted such requests here.
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