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BENGALURU: New WhatsApp restrictions to curb the flow of highly forwarded messages have 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 to the platform.
On April 7, the company had said that messages that are forwarded five times or more can be sent to one person or group at a time. This was announced amid growing cases of disinformation surrounding the coronavirus. The government has been asking social media platforms to monitor fake news, rumors, and hate speech that goes viral and sometimes provokes violence or causes health risks.
Previously, when WhatsApp, for the first time, had set a message sending limit to a maximum of five people in 2019, the platform had seen a 25% drop in overall progress.
“We recently introduced a limit to share” highly forwarded messages “in a single chat. Since this new limit was established, globally there has been a 70% reduction in the number of highly forwarded messages sent on WhatsApp. This change is helping to make WhatsApp a place for personal and private conversations, “said a WhatsApp India spokesperson.
The 70% drop is important since WhatsApp has 400 million users in India, its largest consumers in the market. Therefore, it has one of the strongest viral effects in terms of messages or videos that quickly reach around twenty people in India.
Globally, it has 2 billion users. With an ongoing national blockade, Indians have spent more time on WhatsApp, and the company last week doubled the number of people on a group call to 8, TOI reported.
“In some ways, this is a relatively simple way to do it (which is to ban Twitter accounts that spread hate speech). It is almost a universal non-discriminatory measure. It is not directed to “right” or “left”, but it has an impact on the virality of the transmission of information. When you can stop the dissemination of information at times like these, it’s good, “said Arvind Narrain, founding member of the Alternative Law Forum (ALF), a collective of attorneys that focuses on critical research and sustained legal interventions on social issues.
Experts said this is also an indication that when platforms make it harder to send messages recklessly, people are putting restrictions. TOI reported in its April 8 issue that WhatsApp hoped the new policy would trigger this reaction.
During the pandemic, various WhatsApp messages have circulated, ranging from false information on how to fight the virus, to sensitive issues, such as attacking a particular community and accusing them of spreading the virus.
While the latest WhatsApp measures appear to have had an impact, users, often politically sponsored, have been playing past policies by sending messages from different numbers. The Indian government has been pressuring WhatsApp to break its encryption end-to-end to track users who spread hate speech or rumors. WhatsApp has resisted such requests here.
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On April 7, the company had said that messages that are forwarded five times or more can be sent to one person or group at a time. This was announced amid growing cases of disinformation surrounding the coronavirus. The government has been asking social media platforms to monitor fake news, rumors, and hate speech that goes viral and sometimes provokes violence or causes health risks.
Previously, when WhatsApp, for the first time, had set a message sending limit to a maximum of five people in 2019, the platform had seen a 25% drop in overall progress.
“We recently introduced a limit to share” highly forwarded messages “in a single chat. Since this new limit was established, globally there has been a 70% reduction in the number of highly forwarded messages sent on WhatsApp. This change is helping to make WhatsApp a place for personal and private conversations, “said a WhatsApp India spokesperson.
The 70% drop is important since WhatsApp has 400 million users in India, its largest consumers in the market. Therefore, it has one of the strongest viral effects in terms of messages or videos that quickly reach around twenty people in India.
Globally, it has 2 billion users. With an ongoing national blockade, Indians have spent more time on WhatsApp, and the company last week doubled the number of people on a group call to 8, TOI reported.
“In some ways, this is a relatively simple way to do it (which is to ban Twitter accounts that spread hate speech). It is almost a universal non-discriminatory measure. It is not directed to “right” or “left”, but it has an impact on the virality of the transmission of information. When you can stop the dissemination of information at times like these, it’s good, “said Arvind Narrain, founding member of the Alternative Law Forum (ALF), a collective of attorneys that focuses on critical research and sustained legal interventions on social issues.
Experts said this is also an indication that when platforms make it harder to send messages recklessly, people are putting restrictions. TOI reported in its April 8 issue that WhatsApp hoped the new policy would trigger this reaction.
During the pandemic, various WhatsApp messages have circulated, ranging from false information on how to fight the virus, to sensitive issues, such as attacking a particular community and accusing them of spreading the virus.
While the latest WhatsApp measures appear to have had an impact, users, often politically sponsored, have been playing past policies by sending messages from different numbers. The Indian government has been pressuring WhatsApp to break its encryption end-to-end to track users who spread hate speech or rumors. WhatsApp has resisted such requests here.
