By Reuters and Annie Palmer For Dailymail.com
Published: 09:31 GMT, 21 January 2019 | Updated: 20:02 GMT, 21 January 2019
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WhatsApp is limiting users from sending the same message to more than five people or groups in its latest move to crack down on the spread of misinformation on its platform.
Before the new policy, users could forward messages up to 20 times.
Last July, the Facebook-owned social media app began limiting message forwarding to up to five times for users in India, but now the policy is expanding globally.
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WhatsApp is limiting users from sending the same message to more than five people or groups in its latest move to crack down on the spread of misinformation on its platform
The company said the move was initiated to fight 'misinformation and rumors.'
'We’re imposing a limit of five messages all over the world as of today,' Victoria Grand, vice president for policy and communications at WhatsApp, said at an event in the Indonesian capital.
WhatsApp said it made the decision to expand the limit globally after examining the results of the test in India.
Forwarding limits were put into place in India after the spread of rumors on social media led to killings and lynching attempts.
WhatsApp, which has around 1.5 billion users, has been trying to find ways to stop misuse of the app, following global concern that the platform was being used to spread fake news, manipulated photos, videos without context, and audio hoaxes, with no way to monitor their origin or full reach.
WhatsApp said it made the decision to expand the limit globally after examining the results of the test in
