To curb misinformation, Facebook restricts Messenger forwards to 5 at a time

New Delhi: First, it was WhatsApp, now its Facebook. The global social media giants are battling the challenge of keeping fake news/misinformation in check. In a bid to curb the spread of misinformation, Facebook has put a limit on its Message forwards. Now, the user can’t send message to more than five users at once.

According to Mashable, Jay Sullivan, the executive responsible for Messenger’s privacy and safety said in an official blog post, “Limiting forwarding is an effective way to slow the spread of viral misinformation and harmful content that has the potential to cause real-world harm.”

The social media giant added that it is imposing a limit on message forwards to foil the efforts of bad actors aiming to cause chaos and undermine accurate information. The decision has been taken in view of the coronavirus pandemic (and the spread of linked conspiracy theories) as well as the upcoming elections in the US, New Zealand and other countries.

As per Mashable, Facebook has also announced that it won’t accept new political ads in the week preceding the US elections. The company also mentioned that it will remove posts that discourage people from voting by fanning fears of the virus.

Earlier this month, the social media giant also introduced its Voting Information Center on its platform and on Instagram and Messenger to help users discover accurate and easy-to-find information about voting wherever they live.

This was preceded by the company boosting security on Messenger by adding support for Face ID or fingerprint recognition to protect chats.