Whatsapp will soon soon restrict forwarding messages to more than one group. The messaging app was spotted testing the feature. If the feature makes it to the final update, it would be difficult for a lot of users who aimlessly forward messages without even reading them most of the time. This move would also curb the spread of fake news or misinformation to an extent. Earlier, WhatsApp had rolled out an update that allowed users to forward messages to one chat at a time. WhatsApp had set limits on forwarded messages to constrain virality. This move was announced after WhatsApp started labeling the messages that are forwarded multiple times with double arrows. Now the messaging app is probably looking to expand the feature to group chats. As per Wabetainfo, WhatsApp is testing the possibility to forward messages to only one group chat at a time.
Users on that beta, when tried to forward a message to more than one WhatsApp group, the messing app would throw a pop-up on the screen with the text, “Forwarded messages can only be sent to one group chat. ”As per the report, if one needs to forward this message to more than one group chat, they’ll need to select the message and forward it again. The new limitation takes effect even after the message is forwarded once, so it’s not like the previous limitation. Earlier, with the five chats forward limit, it was still possible to share the same message to a fresh set of five contacts or groups. If the message was shared by more individuals it would get flagged as ‘frequently forwarded’. However, the beta update feature could make it more difficult for bad actors to spread misinformation. It is important to note however that this is just on the beta version of the app and it might take some time for it to surface on the stable version of the app.