META Meta Platforms Inc

By James Hookway and Newley Purnell 

Facebook Inc.'s WhatsApp is limiting users' ability to forward messages across the platform, after criticism it has been used to spread misinformation and rumors, and sometimes stoke violence.

WhatsApp said it would limit to five the number of times a user could forward a message. Last year, the company put in place the five-message forwarding limit in India as a test. The platform was criticized heavily there after WhatsApp-spread messages were blamed for several killings.

The global rollout of the limit was disclosed in Indonesia, which faces a general election in April. Victoria Grand, WhatsApp's vice president for policy and communications, speaking in Jakarta Monday, said the move was aimed at fighting "misinformation and rumors," according to Reuters.

Some political analysts have said they worry social media, and allegations of fake news, could influence voters in Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country. WhatsApp has been used extensively in Indonesian political campaigns, notably a gubernatorial election in Jakarta in 2017.

The platform has been particularly vulnerable to criticism that it helps spread fake news. It is one of the world's largest messaging services, though it is less popular in the U.S. than in many countries overseas. The encrypted nature of its messages means the platform can't monitor their content and head off swirling rumors or misinformation. Because it is a private messaging service, too, each time a user forwards a message it gets further from its original source, potentially losing context about who wrote it.

The platform said in a release it had been testing the limit for six months and would continue to listen to feedback, opening the door to more changes or a rollback should users revolt. It said the five-forwarded-message limit would "help keep WhatsApp focused on private messaging with close contacts." It said it would continue to look for "new ways of addressing viral content."

WhatsApp, and owner Facebook, had been targeted over the summer by the Indian government, which warned the company it needed to do more to stop the spread of misinformation after a series of killings were blamed on messages spread on the platform. It took a series of smaller steps before rolling out the limits. For instance, it published newspaper ads with tips on how users can decide if a message or chat is real or not. It also started labeling forwarded messages on its platform to help users determine if a friend or relative wrote them.

WhatsApp has said it was "horrified" by the Indian violence.

India's telecommunications regulator is also seeking feedback on new rules that would allow the government to read encrypted messages on WhatsApp and other similar services, in part to make it easier to track misinformation.

While WhatsApp is popular in many countries, the South Asian nation is the service's largest market, where it says it has more than 200 million users. In a country where many are connecting to the web for the first time via inexpensive smartphones and cheap mobile data, it offers a simple, free means for consumers to send text messages, videos and photos to friends and family.

Many Indians have never sent an email or shopped online, but they have become avid WhatsApp users, bantering with friends and sending messages to relatives.

Indian political parties have also taken to the service, with legions of workers using it to blast out messages to thousands of supporters.

Write to James Hookway at james.hookway@wsj.com and Newley Purnell at newley.purnell @wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 21, 2019 13:55 ET (18:55 GMT)

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