Whatsapp limits sharing to stem fake news

WHATSAPP has imposed a limit on the number of contacts users can forward messages to in a bid to stop the spread of false information – including conspiracy theories about 5G.

The app, owned by Facebook, will block messages that have been “frequently forwarded” to multiple people.

If a message has already been forwarded more than five times, users will be limited to sending it to one contact at a time. By adding these roadblocks to messaging, Whatsapp hopes to stem the viral spread of fake news, after the World Health Organisation raised concerns over what it called an “infodemic” of misinformation.

Whatsapp said it made the change after observing a “significant increase” in the number of “forwards” since the start of the crisis.

These include fake cures and conspiracy theories around the false belief that 5G causes Covid-19.

Whatsapp said: “We believe it’s important to slow the spread of these messages.” Meanwhile, Youtube said yesterday it would ban videos that linked coronavirus to 5G with one such broadcast shared 65,000 times.

The video sharing website told the BBC that users who spread such theories were in “violation of its policies”.

False claims, including that telecoms technology is to blame for the spread of the pandemic, have spread into reallife intimidation and harassment of engineers, and arson attacks on telecommunication masts.

This week, social media firms were expected to be hauled before ministers to answer questions about the spread of false information on their apps.