Facebook says it’s imposing a new forward limit on its Messenger platform to stem the growing tide of viral misinformation ahead of the presidential election. The social network is now rolling an update that will restrict users from forwarding a message to no more than five people at a time, a significant downgrade from the service’s previous ability to forward messages to 150 chats.
Jay Sullivan, the executive responsible for Messenger’s privacy and safety, said in a blog post that the company is introducing a forwarding limit to “help curb the efforts of those looking to cause chaos, sow uncertainty or inadvertently undermine accurate information.”
“Limiting forwarding is an effective way to slow the spread of viral misinformation and harmful content that has the potential to cause real-world harm,” he added. Users who reach this threshold while forwarding a message will be shown a new alert on the Messenger app that reads: “Forwarding limit reached.”
The move comes months after Facebook rolled out a similar limitation for its other messaging app, WhatsApp. Earlier this year in April, WhatsApp added a new restriction for messages that have been already shared five times or over. This was on top of WhatsApp’s existing five-chats forward limit. The Facebook-owned messaging service claims these restrictions have led to a 25% decline in message forwards globally.
Alongside the new Messenger limit, Facebook today also announced it will stop accepting submissions for new political ads in the week preceding Election Day. “In the final days of an election, there may not be enough time to contest new claims. So in the week before the election, we won’t accept new political or issue ads,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post.
In the run-up to the forthcoming presidential election, Facebook has rolled out measures to curb hate speech and misinformation. Last month, the social network launched its voter information hub which offers resources on a wide variety of election-related topics such as relevant links to register as a voter, requesting absentee or mail-in ballots, “well-sourced news,” and verified posts from state election officials and other nonpartisan civic organizations.
Instagram is testing a new format for long-form videos called Features. It allows select creators to upload horizontal videos running up to 90 minutes long. Instagram has already tested the new format with creators in Brazil, and now, it's expanding to tens of thousands of creators across the US.
How will Instagram's new Features format work?
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
I have lost count of how many times I have gone to bed thinking I will finally sleep on time, only to somehow end up scrolling Instagram or X again. A few minutes turn into an hour, then another, and before I notice, it is 2 or 3 a.m. The next morning, I am usually annoyed with myself because I could have just slept and felt considerably better for the day ahead.
It is also a surprisingly hard habit to beat. Knowing you should put the phone down does not always help once it is already in your hand. Brick Night is a new gadget built around that exact problem. Instead of relying on you to remember to turn on an app blocker, it automatically restricts selected apps and websites when your phone enters your chosen sleep space during the hours you set.