NEW DELHI — Following concerns from Indian government, messaging service WhatsApp said it was working towards limiting the forwarding of messages on its service, officials said Friday.
The move apparently has been taken following the continuous reminders from Indian government to the company to immediately contain spread of fake, motivated and sensational messages on its platform, China’s Xinhua News Agency reported.
“Today, we’re launching a test to limit forwarding that will apply to everyone using WhatsApp. In India – where people forward more messages, photos, and videos than any other country in the world – we’ll also test a lower limit of 5 chats at once and we’ll remove the quick forward button next to media messages,” WhatsApp in a statement said.
The decision to restrict message forwarding comes after a series of incidents in India saw many people lynched apparently after the circulation of fake messages on WhatsApp groups.
On Thursday Indian government send a second reminder to WhatsApp expressing its unhappiness with the steps taken by the company and warned it of legal action if it choose to remain “mute spectators.”
Last week one person was beaten to death and four others including a foreign national were seriously injured by rumor driven mob in southern Indian state of Karnataka.
The lynching of the 32-year-old software engineer was provoked after rumours of child lifting were circulated on WhatsApp through messages, police said.
— BERNAMA
