WhatsApp has been implementing several steps to ensure that the spread of fake news is curbed on its platform and one of the steps taken was labelling any messages that have been forwarded with ‘Forwarded’. Now the company appears to have gone a step further and added a new feature that tells the receiver how many times has the message been forwarded. [caption id=“attachment_6413231” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] A man poses with a smartphone in front of displayed Whatsapp. Reuters[/caption] First spotted by Twitter user @beingpunjabi, the screenshot tweeted showed the details of a message which in turn showed three options which were ‘Seen’, ‘Delivered’ and ‘Forwarded’ 1 time. Earlier, WhatsApp had implemented a ‘frequently forwarded’ tag for messages that have been forwarded more than four times. Providing exact details of how many times a message has been forwarded would let users know exactly how popular the message is. [caption id=“attachment_6934241” align=“alignnone” width=“400”]
WhatsApp forwarding. Twitter/Being Punjabi[/caption] As of right now, it is not clear if the feature is just being tested out it will roll out to all users. We should know more soon and we shall update the story accordingly.
What's app new feature showing how much image has been forwarded. It will helpful in identifying viral content too. #Whatsapp pic.twitter.com/uat5wXpGtC
— Ashish Batra (@BeingPunjabi_) July 4, 2019
In more news related to WhatsApp, the Indian government is reportedly working on a ‘secure’ application similar to WhatsApp for internal and official communication. According to a report by Economic Times, a senior official has revealed the government’s plans to develop its own email, messaging and other communication platforms, so they do not have to depend on any “outside player” for the same.