Well, coronavirus is spreading and so is fake news and myths about the virus, especially on WhatsApp. And what's worse is that people are believing it. While we do need to take care of our health, it is important that one does not share information that can create panic in the society.
Amid such difficult times, fake news spreads like fire but it is important that we do not believe it and also refrain from forwarding it to others. It is also of utmost importance that we do not consume our news from WhatsApp and whenever someone forwards you something, just THINK and VERIFY if it could actually be true.
Fake news could be fatal and it has been proven time and again.
For all the technology novices out there, to help you figure if the forwards you have been receiving is true or not, WhatsApp has brilliant features to check if the forwards are coming from an authentic source.
One of the basic ways is to check the media- photos and videos - for edits made on them which are quite evident most of the times. If you still cannot figure out or want to confirm with some one, show it to a person who has knowledge about it. Next best thing to do would be to check with reliable news websites.
Well, in recent times WhatsApp has seen myriad of fake news circulating and introduced features to control the spread of them. Here are a list of features you ought to know in order to check the authenticity of the news;
Forwarded message
When a person forwards you a message, an arrow mark with "forwarded message" appears with the text. With this, you can say that the sender of the message is not the original source and the message could be fake. This means that you need to check with reliable sources to know more about the information you are looking for.
Frequently forwarded message
This is one of the brilliant features WhatsApp came up with last year. When a message is forwarded quite frequently, two arrows appear with the message instead of one which indicates that the message has been floating around among people for quite sometime and needs to be checked.
Forwarding Info
Now, this newly added feature lets you check the number of times a message has been forwarded. All you need to do is tap on the message info option and you will have the numbers with you.
Forwarding limit
WhatsApp has put a restriction limit of forwarding a message 5 times in place. Earlier, you could forward it to 20. This is one of the effective ways to curb the spread of fake news.
So, while it is important to educate people about the deadly virus, it is also important that you tell them about how fake news has been spreading. Act smart and look out for these features and verify before you forward it to someone.
