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To curb the spread of fake news, WhatsApp is testing two new ‘Forwarding Info’ and ‘Frequently forwarded’ features on its app, which will allow users to find out how many times a particular message has been forwarded. These new features are currently being tested in the beta versions of the app on Android.
Forwarding info will be available in the “message infobox”, the new beta version on Android will label your message as “frequently forwarded” if that message has been shared for five or more times. The message info section will also mention exactly forwarding count of that message. Moreover, any message that is forwarded for more than five times, will then be delivered with a frequently forwarded remark.
The purpose behind introducing this feature is to create a kind of an auto-alert, which will help WhatsApp to remove any false content from spreading through its platform.
The messaging giant faced a lot of pressure in the past over fake news being transmitted through the app, which also led to the incidents of lynching and such other acts of violence in India. Since then WhatsApp is continuously experimenting on new updates to tackle the issue. Recently, WhatsApp was said to be working on a “Search Image” feature that will help users to track the source of the image.
It is not certain at the moment that if or when WhatsApp will release this feature for its main version of the app. Although observing the immense pressure the company is facing right now, it seems that this will happen soon enough.
See also: 5 new features to look out for in WhatsApp in 2019
