WhatsApp brags on a 70% drop in viral forwarded messages

Any platform where people can share news or their personal beliefs tends to have a problem with viral messages that may or may not be true. Facebook-owned WhatsApp certainly has a problem with viral forwarded messages being sent, and it's currently bragging about a 70% drop in the number of viral forwarded messages. The significant decline in forwarded messages comes three weeks after WhatsApp imposed a limit on shared messages to stop the spread of coronavirus misinformation.

WhatsApp imposed a Highly Forwarded Message Limit on April 7 as a response to what it calls a "significant increase" in the number of forwarded messages since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. With the limit imposed, people are only allowed to forward viral messages to one chat instead of five as previously allowed.

WhatsApp issued a statement that said, "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." Like many other social networking, videoconferencing, and chat apps, WhatsApp has partnered with governments, the World Health Organization, and other organizations to create trustworthy information sources for users.

Among the things WhatsApp is doing to help provide accurate information for users was the launch of a Coronavirus Information Hub website intended to keep app users up to date during the coronavirus pandemic. WhatsApp is seen usage soar during the coronavirus outbreak, with more than 2 billion users globally. WhatsApp and other highly used social networking and conferencing apps are under increasing pressure to help curtail the spread of false information. WhatsApp recently launched support for up to eight people on a single video call.