[News Story] WhatsApp Viral Messages ‘Drop 70%’ According to the Company

Posted On April 28, 2020

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and after users and governments complained about the amount of misinformation circulating on WhatsApp, the platform announced new measures to curb the virality of messages. Now, WhatsApp says that it has sseen a reduction of 70% in viral messages. There’s been several stories on the topic in the media these days. Here’s a few:

Techchrunch: WhatsApp’s new limit cuts virality of ‘highly forwarded’ messages by 70%
BBC: Coronavirus: Viral WhatsApp messages ‘drop 70%’
Forbes: WhatsApp Viral Message Forwarding Drops 70% After New Limits To Stop Coronavirus Misinformation

Our research on the spread of misinformation in Africa has shown again and again that WhatsApp is ripe with inaccurate stories, and that people share them widely. You can read more about our study on motivations for sharing disinformation in several Sub-Saharan African countries here.

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