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WhatsApp’s ‘Frequently Forwarded’ feature: All you need to know

WhatsApp recently announced it's ‘Frequently Forwarded’ feature, which lets users know a message has been forwarded many times.

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PCQ Bureau
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Forwarded’ feature

Aiming to curb the spread of fake news on its platform, the popular instant messaging app WhatsApp has rolled out ‘Frequently Forwarded’ feature in India, which lets users know a message has been forwarded many times. The messages that are now forwarded many times, the feature will mark them as ‘“forwarded many times.’

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The frequently forwarded feature is currently available to select Android and iOS users and will soon be rolled out to more users globally in the next few weeks. You can check if the feature is available on your app by sending a forwarded message to another user. According to the WhatsApp, if the message has been forwarded multiple times, it will prompt you with a ‘forwarded many times’ label. However, you will not be able to know as to specifically, how many times the message has been forwarded. The forward messages would still remain bound to WhatsApp encryption techniques and not available to end-users.

WhatsApp says, if a message has been forward 5 times, it will label the message as a forwarded message. After that WhatsApp will issue an alert to let the user decide whether he wants to send the message or not. If someone still forwards that message, the user would not think of being exempted of spreading fake news.

At the back end, the instant messaging app utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to curb the spread of fake news.

The company has also issued a statement that reads, ‘beginning December 7, 2019, WhatsApp will take legal action against those we determine are engaged in or assisting others in abuse that violates our Terms of Service, such as automated or bulk messaging, or non-personal use, even if that determination is based on information solely available to us off our platform.’

The company could also ban accounts that violate its terms of service.

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