At the beginning of April, WhatsApp reduced the number of people one could forward a message to. The number which was previously 5 was reduced to 1. This was done to curb/reduce the spread of misinformation about the ongoing pandemic. In a statement to TechCrunch, WhatsApp said, “We recently introduced a limit to sharing ‘highly forwarded messages’ to just one chat. Since putting into place this new limit, globally there has been a 70% reduction in the number of highly forwarded messages sent on WhatsApp.”
Facebook-owned WhatsApp is the world's largest messaging service. It has more than 2 billion users globally of which more than 400 million users are in India alone. When the limit was reduced to 1, WhatsApp in a blog post said, “Is all forwarding bad? Certainly not. We know many users forward helpful information, as well as funny videos, memes, and reflections or prayers they find meaningful. In recent weeks, people have also used WhatsApp to organize public moments of support for frontline health workers. However, we’ve seen a significant increase in the amount of forwarding which users have told us can feel overwhelming and can contribute to the spread of misinformation. We believe it’s important to slow the spread of these messages down to keep WhatsApp a place for personal conversation.”
Not all is bad for those that want to share and stay in touch with their loved ones through WhatsApp. WhatsApp recently increased its group call limit from four to eight. It also announced Messenger Rooms that would hold up to 50 people with no time limit. You can read more about it here.
If you are looking for alternatives to stay in touch with friends and family in an interesting way, then you can check out some fun video calling apps here. In other video calling news, Mumbai-based developer, Inscripts, seems to have created an Indian answer to Zoom in the form of Say Namaste. The platform is currently in Beta and should launch officially in the next few weeks. The company has also submitted builds of the app to Google and Apple in order to be listed in their respective app stores. You can read more about Say Namaste here.
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