On Tuesday, WhatsApp announced the launch of a new feature
globally that will highlight when a message has been forwarded versus composed
by the sender.
“Starting today, WhatsApp will indicate which messages you
receive have been forwarded to you. This extra context will help make
one-on-one and group chats easier to follow,” WhatsApp said in a blog.
“It also helps you determine if your friend or relative
wrote the message they sent or if it originally came from someone else. To see
this new forwarded label, you need to have the latest supported version of
WhatsApp on your phone,” it added.
Last week, replying to a notice by the Indian government to
take immediate measures to prevent misuse of its platform, WhatsApp had said
that it was testing a new label that highlights when a message has been
forwarded. “This could serve as an important signal for recipients to think
twice before forwarding messages because it lets a user know if content they
received was written by the person they know or a potential rumour from someone
else,” it had said.
