WhatsApp Imposes New Limit on Bulk Message Forwarding to Slow Spread of Misinformation

[miniyou64]

well a bletform opperater takes steps to limit miss information spred via ther platform in a global crises, I shuld blody hope so, the last thing we need is a cell network deteriorating because idiots set towers on fier due to som conspirecy about 5G spreading covid-19 (I kid you not). And if this is done with dissabeling or limiting the "send to all" well i think the added inconvinience might be a price we just have to accept. Ok the covid-19 via %G was extreme I could have picked another example but that was the frirst that came to mind

so you like that they can decide what people are able to share just because YOU find it objectionable? That’s pretty short-sighted

 

[CarpalMac]

I thought we were supposed to live in a “free” society

People used to scream that on the forums I ran when I moderated their (usually) inflammatory, ignorant posts. My response was always the same:

"Feel free to register, setup and host your own forum, there you can post on it what you want, whenever you want. This however is my site, with my rules..."

 

[Mr. Heckles]

How could they fact check WhatsApp messages if they're encrypted?

Good point didn't think of that

I don’t think it matters, they are making it so you can’t do this to any message.

The new limits on bulk forwarding mean if a user receives a message that has been forwarded more than five times, they will only be able to send it on to a single chat at a time. The previous limit was five chats at once, which WhatsApp introduced last year.

 

[Tech198]

I like how companies are trying to tackle this problem, but it's supposed to be going UP not DOWN (..as what the diction they have chosen.)

Weather it be Facebook or WhatsApp, you can't prevent freedom.. ..If it's an issue for a company to try and "soften the blow" by intruding tough restrictions to prevent fake stuff, people who really wanna get their message trough will use other avenues.. In short, they may think they are doing the right thing, but what are would be really doing is forcing more people away from such systems, who just wanna chat.

rules and freedom on the public internet never play nice together.. While some effort is made, it always backfires in other ways.