On Tuesday, WhatsApp, the instant messaging service, announced that it was restricting the feature of forwarding messages to individuals and groups, in an effort to limit the spread of fake news and information.

The new restriction is that if the user receives a message that is repeatedly forwarded (more than five times), it will only be able to send it to one conversation at a time, according to the new restrictions.

For example, if you send congratulations to five groups or individuals, the next person in the chain - and your friend - will only be able to resend your message once.

This step comes to reduce the speed with which information is transmitted via WhatsApp, especially in the current period when many news and information about the Corona pandemic are being circulated.

"We know that many users are redirecting useful information, as well as the funny videos and reflections or prayers they find meaningful," the company, which is part of Facebook, said in a post.

"In recent weeks, people have also used WhatsApp to support frontline health workers, however we have seen a significant increase in the amount of forwarding, which users have told us can contribute to the spread of misinformation. We believe it is important to slow the spread of these messages to keep WhatsApp a place for personal chats. "

Previously, it was easy for users to forward a single message to up to 256 people with just a few clicks, and these messages were not classified as forwarding at first, sparking a crisis in India, where WhatsApp messages were associated with incitement to mob violence there.

Because of the full encryption in the application, it was almost impossible for Indian authorities to determine who might use the app to spread hate speech or violence calls.

In 2018, WhatsApp started experimenting with restrictions on the number of times a message was forwarded, the forwarding messages started first, and adding two arrows to show that the message was forwarded repeatedly.

Last year, the company began limiting the number of people in five groups or individuals, for whom you can forward a single message.

Although it is a simple process and nothing prevents the same message from being repeatedly forwarded to different people using some tricks, some restriction to the process generally helped slow the forwarding rate. WhatsApp says that forwarding incited messages fell last year by 25% around the world.

But last month, CNN News and other news organizations found that the messaging app was used to share a variety of false information about Covid-19 "cures" and scams about military activity linked to the disease.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar urged people to "stop sharing unverified information in WhatsApp groups".

In response, WhatsApp promoted a robot program created by the World Health Organization, which provides information about the disease by healthcare professionals, and the application was used by more than ten million people, and WhatsApp also donated $ 1 million to the International Fact-Finding Network.