WhatsApp officially rolls out forward message limit for Indian users
New Delhi, Aug 8 : With the Indian government talking tough on WhatsApp's failure to check the spread of fake and provocative content on its platform, the instant messaging service on Wednesday said it has begun rolling out its forward message limit to five chats for over 200 million users in India.
The Facebook-owned platform last month announced to launch a test to limit message forwarding to five chats in India.
"The limit has started to appear this week for people in India who are on the current version of WhatsApp," the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
In addition, the instant messaging app also published a new video to educate its users, saying it is expanding its user education campaign on how to spot fake news and hoaxes.
"This week, WhatsApp is publishing a new video that explains the importance of the 'forward' label and calls users to 'double check the facts when you're not sure who created the original message,'" said the company.
People forward more messages, photos, and videos in India than any other country in the world. Globally, the company allows users to forward messages for up to 20 chats (either individuals or groups).
WhatsApp said that with new changes, which it will continue to evaluate, "will help keep WhatsApp the way it was designed to be: a private messaging app".
"We are deeply committed to your safety and privacy which is why WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted, and we'll continue to improve our app with features like this one," it said in an earlier statement.
Media reports surfaced this week, claiming the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had asked telecom companies for ways to block social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram and Instagram in case of threat to national security and public order.
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), however, said the government should look for "more effective" steps to curb fake news and maintain public order, instead of blocking mobile applications.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
RJD surprise element in J’khand polls, party candidates leading in 5 of 6 assembly seats
Ranchi(PTI): The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has emerged as a surprise element in the Jharkhand assembly elections with its candidates leading in five of the six seats where the party is contesting, according to trends available on the Election Commission's website on Saturday.
RJD candidates in five assembly seats were leading over sitting BJP legislators.
In 2019, RJD had secured only the Chatra seat where its nominee Satyanand Bhokta won.
In Deoghar, RJD’s Suresh Paswan was leading by 19,581 votes over his nearest rival and BJP's sitting MLA Narayan Das after the third round of counting.
RJD’s Sanjay Prasad Yadav was ahead by 19,867 votes in Godda over BJP MLA Amit Kumar Mandal after the sixth round of counting.
In Koderma, RJD nominee Subhash Prasad Yadav, who was out on bail, was leading by a margin of 3,471 votes over BJP’s sitting legislator Neera Yadav.
Subhas Prasad Yadav, considered to be one of the close aides of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, was recently granted bail by the Supreme Court in a money laundering case.
Party’s Naresh Prasad Singh was leading by 5,159 votes after the fourth round of counting over BJP’s Bishrampur MLA Ramchandra Chandravanshi.
RJD's Sanjay Kumar Singh Yadav was also leading from Hussainabad by 8,213 votes after the fourth round of counting over BJP MLA Kamlesh Kumar Singh.
Party’s candidate Rashmi Prakash, however, was trailing from Chatra by 3,776 votes.
Bhokta did not contest the elections this time, and his daughter-in-law Prakash was given a ticket.
