WhatsApp may potentially be adding a new restriction in future versions of the app which limits users from mass forwarding messages. Spotted in the latest Google Play Beta Program version of the messaging app, the new restriction will only allow messages to be forwarded to just one group chat at a time, presumably in order to curb the spread of misinformation and fake news.
Shared by WABetaInfo, the 2.22.7.2 version of the WhatsApp Google Play Beta Program will mark a message that has previously been forwarded. Moreover, it would then not be possible to forward it to more than one group chat at a time.
Therefore, should users still want to forward the same message to other group chat, they must manually select the message and forward it again once at a time. Furthermore, this restriction will also take effect even when the message has been forwarded once.
This latest restriction is in line with previous implementation by WhatsApp in restricting message forwarding. In 2020, the Meta-owned messaging app published a blogpost about ‘Keeping WhatsApp Personal and Private’ whereby in an effort to curb the spread of misinformation, especially regarding Covid-19, WhatsApp decided to mark messages with a ‘frequently forwarded’ wording if it has been forwarded more than 4 times.
Speaking of which, that particular feature has been present in WhatsApp since 2020 and it seems that the messaging app feels that further restrictions are needed, hence this latest feature. It is unsure yet when will this feature will be rolling out to the official WhatsApp app, but let’s hope that it would be sometime soon!
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