New WhatsApp update on iOS limits forwarded messages to 5 members only: Report

Facebook-owned messaging app, WhatsApp in its new features has limited the number of people who can receive a forwarded message to five. However, this is available to iOS users, only. Android folks may have to wait for sometime. The rollout was first spotted by the WaBetaInfo which pointed out that the feature is available on new iOS 2.18.81 update. Apart from the usual bug fixes, the update now allows users to forward a message to only five people, at one go. [caption id=“attachment_4668351” align=“alignnone” width=“1024”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] Earlier WhatsApp had announced that it was testing this feature on both iOS and Android. The feature was announced to curb the problem of fake news which led to an increase in instances of mob-lynchings especially in countries such as India and Bangladesh. Alarming concerns from the Indian authorities led WhatsApp to take steps to minimise this problem.

One such step that it took previously was the ‘suspicious link detection feature’. It was rolled out on Android Beta to tackle this problem. The feature identifies any unusual patterns in the address of the links shared in chat messages. If such a message is detected as malicious it is then labelled as a ‘suspicious link’. This feature was available for Android version 2.18.221. While WhatsApp has been fighting over the problem of fake news, the Department of Telecom (DoT) recently sought the opinion of telcos to block mobile apps such as Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram and other apps like these, whenever there are instances which can potentially cause chaos and harm people.