Messenger follows WhatsApp in imposing forwarding limits – Pocket-lint

(Pocket-lint) – Facebook-owned WhatsApp has been upping the game in terms of the war on misinformation in recent months – it placed a limit on forwarded messages back in April. 

Now that same endeavour has belatedly come to Messenger – also owned by Facebook – presumably, other work had to be carried out in the meantime to enable the feature. 

Messenger has been based on a separate platform to WhatsApp, but Facebook has been working on interoperability between the two which may bring full end-to-end encryption to Messenger while WhatsApp may end up not being tied to one device. Messenger has been combined with Instagram Direct already. 

Messenger messages can now only be forwarded to five people or groups at a time. The aim is to prevent the viral spread of fake news such as conspiracy theories that have the potential to do damage.

Of course, this has never been more important with not only the US election on the horizon but the current global situation being the subject of some random theories such as the totally untrue connection to 5G, for example.  

Earlier this year Facebook introduced two-factor authentication and easier ways to block and report unwanted messages, too. 

Writing by Dan Grabham.