The fastest way to share news, updates, or even say Eid Mubarak, is probably just to forward the message to literally everyone in your contacts list. And what’s everyone’s go-to app for that? You guessed it – WhatsApp. Well, turns out WhatsApp might sue people soon.
See, there’s a way to misuse everything.
People tend to misuse the ‘forward’ setting of the app a lot. Even DC Islamabad posted a fake weather message on his Twitter which was actually just one of those forwarded messages on WhatsApp. Yes, that was a bit awkward. And, on a more serious note, at least 18 people were killed last year in India, all related to violent messages circulating on the app.
So, of course, WhatsApp had to stop this spread of fake news.
An insane amount of people use WhatsApp, around 1.5 billion. They’re trying their best to stop misuse of the app, so they ended up limiting text forwards to five people compared to previously where you could forward it to 20 people. This was back in January of this year.
But it hasn’t really helped as much as you’d think it would. People are still using WhatsApp to spread fake news. And it’s caused the app to take harsher measures.
WhatsApp might sue those who forward too many messages on the app.
In a recent statement released by the app, in the FAQ section, WhatsApp has stated that they will take “legal action” against those who “assist others in abuse” through “automated, or bulk messaging”. It’ll take place starting December 7th this year.
Well…that’s interesting.
Every uncle who’s ever spread fake news right now:
How will they send their loosely researched forwards now?!
LOL, anyway, it seems like the company is taking the whole spam and fake news situation pretty seriously, as they should. Interesting to know how they’ll go about it and to whom this will apply. Anyway, we hope it honestly does help in taking action against those who create a negative environment on an otherwise pretty useful app.
What are your thoughts on this? Share away in the comments.
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Cover Image via: bgr.com/faq.whatsapp.com
