WhatsApp reaches significant success in fighting viral misinformation

In the beginning of the month, we reported about a new limit, imposed by WhatsApp, that restricted the ability to forward messages to one chat at a time. This action was done in effort to limit the spread of coronavirus-related fake news and misinformation on the messaging platform and now, TechCrunch reports the change has already made a big difference.

Facebook reportedly stated that the spread of frequently forwarded messages on the platform have gone down by 70% globally. The “highly forwarded” messages could be misinformation spreading and people mass forwarding messages that, more often than not, did not come from health authorities and spread rumors and concern.

The update was introduced on April 7 and limited forwarding to one person at a time. Previously, the forwarding was limited to 5 chats at the same time. The new update was not only for misinformation in regards to the coronavirus, but the change could reportedly also help keep WhatsApp a place for personal and private conversations and the company stated it's doing its part to tackle viral messages.

The last time that WhatsApp limited forwarding of messages, back in 2019, has influenced a 25% decrease in total message forwards globally.