
WhatsApp puts limit on message forwarding to fight fake news - bookofjoe
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jan/21/whatsapp-limits-message-forwarding-fight-fake-news
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ASalazarMX
So, fake news will be shared with copy-paste instead of forwarding? This will
absolutely deter those rascals who manipulate their platform and multiply user
engagement.

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Kadin
It seems like a valid and useful way to slow the rate of propagation of fake
news.

Much of the current problem is that fake news spreads faster than moderators
can make a decision on it, or journalists can fact-check it. If you can keep
it in a "slow burn" phase longer, where it's being forwarded along to a
handful of people at a time, it's easier to combat.

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mateo1
It also seems like a valid and useful way to slow the rate of propagation of
real news. Real news also spread very fast and faster than moderation.

The point is, this has next to zero selectivity. It just makes the platform
hostile to encrypted group messages. My guess would be that (besides PR
regarding the Indian stories, which is a social problem, not a technical one)
this is about censorship. You can't censor things you can't see. Better stop
them from communicating freely.

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DoctorPenguin
People probably won't understand this but I totally agree with you.

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kappi
You can still fwd to 5*256 people. Not sure about the effectiveness of this
limit.

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digianarchist
Because Whatsapp group size is 256 people and you can foward a message to 5
groups.

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silveira
That's quite a blast radius. Also, we have seen automated accounts that
automatically spread messages to those groups.

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waterhouse
So now it can get sent around via a game of literal telephone. I wonder if
this will end up _creating_ fake news. Of course, any mistakes can be blamed
on the users.

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brootstrap
Ok given what we've seen from headlines recently, this actually makes sense.
My grandma is old and I read older people share fake news more then youngins.
My grandma (and older aunts/uncles) are the only people who forward emails. I
wouldnt be surprised if lots of fake news articles were forwarded around
networks of older folks.

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bertil
There is a correlation between age and “credulity” (for lack of a better word
for ‘likely to share inflammatory fake news’) but it’s not the best proxy.

The question is more: assuming that Facebook/WhatsApp can give its existing
members a reasonably accurate score, would you allow certain people to share
more? What would you do with new accounts?

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51lver
So now viral media is the enemy?

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retox
Improve your messaging program by preventing people from sending messages.
Good move.

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ionwake
Messaging app handicaps itself to reduce the number of people you can message
at a time rendering it more useless for group communication

Edit - I removed a paragraph which was conjecture

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duskwuff
Through forwarded messages. The app already supports group messaging, which
was already (and remains) a more effective way of communicating with an
established group.

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gammateam
WhatsApp UI is also at fault: they distinctly dont show who the message was
forwarded from or the original poster

Telegram does and it saves a lot of questions

I have a partner that forwards other people’s business replies over Whatsapp,
and I never know the context especially because I never know whose message he
is forwarding

