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In a bid to fight the spread of misinformation about Coronavirus, WhatsApp has announced strict new rules and limits when it comes to forwarded messages.
WhatsApp Limits
In 2018, WhatsApp began labeling forward messages, and introducing a limit on the number of people you can send that message to. In order to limit the damage, WhatsApp is introducing a new limit on forwarding messages. You can now only do that to one chat at a time. That limit kicks in once the message has been forwarded more than five times in total.
It should be noted that WhatsApp can’t read the content of your messages. However, through the metadata, it can count the number of times a particular message has been forwarded – indicated with a double arrow icon – .
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In a blog post, the chat app said that it saw the number of forwards shooting up and that can lead to the spread of misinformation.
However, we’ve seen a significant increase in the amount of forwarding. Users have told us that it feels overwhelming and can contribute to the spread of misinformation. We believe it’s important to slow the spread of these messages down to keep WhatsApp a place for personal conversations.
Widely forwarded messages can be particularly dangerous on WhatsApp. They often come with the implicit approval of a friend or family member and sometimes rapidly disconnected from their initial context.
It’s Not All Bad…
However, the company argues that not all forwarding is bad.
“We know many users forward helpful information. These include funny videos, memes and reflections or prayers they find meaningful. In recent weeks, people have also used WhatsApp to organise public moments of support for frontline health workers.”
In short, we should try and desist from sending information not confirmed by the WHO especially in these trying times. Use the official WhatsApp numbers from our Ministry of Health and from the Official WHO number.
Ministry of Health WhatsApp Number
Kenya partnered with Whatsapp and Facebook to launch the messaging service to raise awareness on the coronavirus. The platform will enable Kenyans to directly access information from the Health ministry. The number is 0110 719 719.
How To Use The WhatsApp Number
When you send ‘Hi’ to the number on WhatsApp, you will receive a menu with options of information to choose from.
“Welcome to the official government Covid-19 support, what would you like to know about COVID-19? Type MENU to access more information”.
This chatbot will enable Kenyans to get answers to the most common questions about the coronavirus from the Ministry 24 hours a day.
When you get the Menu, you can then send a number with respect to the information you would like to receive. We tested this with the number 9 ‘Travel’ and this is the information we got.
Stay safe and Stay Home if you can.
CHECK OUT OUR COVID-19 COVERAGE HERE
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