The reasons that led WhatsApp to limit resending

This Monday WhatsApp announced that it will restrict the number of times a user can forward a message, in an effort to increase security and combat the spread of misinformation in the social network.

The messaging service, which has a point-to-point encryption system with which a message is sent with its own key that allows it to reach the recipient without third parties being able to read it, has made several efforts to ensure the proper use of the platform , since its encryption system makes it possible for hundreds of users to exchange texts, photos and videos beyond the reach of independent data verifiers or WhatsApp itself.

Facts such as the brutal attack on two men in India, who were suspected of murdering people and selling parts of their bodies by a chain that achieved great reach through WhatsApp or the lynching of a citizen of the town of Ciudad Bolívar in Bogotá , who was accused of the alleged kidnapping of a child in the area that the police later confirmed was false information spread by the social network, have taken the courier service to take this type of action.

Particularly India, where the 'app' has more than 200 million users, WhatsApp has played an important role in increasing citizen violence. Other cases of lynchings of men in that country who were accused in false chains of alleged kidnappings of minors occurred during the past year.

As a result of this, the courier service implemented security measures ranging from alliances with the Ministry of Electronics and Technology and television commercials that invited "sharing recipes, compliments, joy and not rumors", to limit the number of times that a user could forward a message.

In addition, in 2018 the disinformation, which became a place in the world, managed to spread through powerful messages, which originated many of the well-known Fake News that contributed to the manipulation of electoral processes in the presidential elections in Brazil and the legislative elections. from USA UU

"We are imposing a limit of five messages around the world from today," the message that Victoria Grand, Vice President of Policy and Communications of WhatsApp, gave this Monday is the product of the applied measure India last July.

The company said the decision to extend the restrictions to all users came after a six-month evaluation of user comments. "The forwarding limit significantly reduced messages worldwide," the company said in a statement about a forwarding limit test.

Before, users could forward a message up to 20 times in the application and from Monday onwards, starting with Android devices and then with Apple, that figure drops to five forwards.