WhatsApp today said its users in India will not be allowed to forward more than five chats at once.
As part of its efforts to reduce circulation of fake messages on the platform that have even incited mob lynching incidents, the company said that it will remove the quick forward button that appears next to media messages.
In a blogpost, WhatsApp noted that its users in India “forward more messages, photos, and videos, than any other country in the world”. The Facebook-owned company has over one billion users globally, of which over 200 million are in India.
WhatsApp has received flak from the Indian government over fake news and false information being circulated on its messaging platform.
Yesterday, the government shot off a second notice to WhatsApp asking it to come out with effective solutions to curb the menace of fake news beyond just labelling forwards.
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