New Delhi, July 20 (KNN) To curtail mass forwarding of messages, images and videos as a preventive measure to check wide-spreading of rumours, Whatsapp has said it is launching a test to limit forwarding, to as low as five chats at once, through the platform.

In a statement on Friday, Whatsapp said, "In India — where people forward more messages, photos, and videos, than any other country in the world — we'll also test a lower limit of five chats at once and we'll remove the quick forward button next to media messages."

Whatsapp had a feature to allow users forward a message to multiple chats at once.

Whatsapp launched its forward label in India earlier this month to identify messages which are not original and have been forwarded.

On Thursday, the Indian government has sent a second letter to Whatsapp asking for "more effective solutions" that can bring in "accountability and facilitate enforcement of law" in the wake of rising incidents of rumours on Whatsapp triggering lynching incidents in the country. 

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) had said that there is a need for bringing in traceability and accountability when a provocative or inflammatory message is detected and a request is made by law enforcement agencies.

When rumours and fake news get propagated by mischief mongers, the medium used for such propagation cannot evade responsibility and accountability."

It added that if they remain "mute spectators" they are liable to be treated as "abettors" and thereafter face consequent legal action.

Whatsapp in its statement today said, “We believe that these changes - which we'll continue to evaluate - will help keep WhatsApp the way it was designed to be: a private messaging app.

We are deeply committed to your safety and privacy which is why WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted, and we'll continue to improve our app with features like this one,” it added.