BaretaNews has now learned that after a six-month experiment in India, Whatsapp, one of the best used messaging platform did announced on Monday, 21st January, 2019 that it will be restricting users globally to forwarding a message to only five chats at a time. The previous limit outside India was 20. This now means that users can only forward messages to five chats at a time. Southern Cameroonians are heavily engaged in Whatsapp groups and used it as one of their platforms in the current ongoing war as such this limit will definitely slow down how information are forwarded and spread. However, it will only slow but not impede the spread of information because this will now mean that the work rate of Southern Cameroonians will now have to double as users will have to forward same message multiple times rather than once. Ambazonians work rate in WhatsApp must now double
According to CNN Business, WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook (FB), first imposed the five-chat limit in India — its biggest global market — in July after viral hoax messages resulted in more than a dozen lynchings. Many of the victims were mistaken as child abductors because of false rumors spread via WhatsApp. “The forward limit significantly reduced forwarded messages around the world,” the company said in a statement, adding that the limits would help keep WhatsApp a private messaging platform for close contacts. “We’ll continue to listen to user feedback about their experience, and over time, look for new ways of addressing viral content,” the company added.
