Facebook's WhatsApp limits text forwards to five recipients to curb rumors

Reuters , Monday 21 Jan 2019

WhatsApp Reuters
FILE PHOTO: The WhatsApp application is seen on a phone screen August 3, 2017. (REUTERS)

Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp (FB.O) messenger service is globally limiting the number of times a user can forward a message to five, in a bid to fight “misinformation and rumors”, company executives said on Monday.

“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 on Monday at an event in the Indonesian capital.

Previously, a WhatsApp user could forward a message to 20 individuals or groups. The five-recipient limit expands globally a measure WhatsApp put into place in India in July after the spread of rumors led to several killings there.

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