Hoaxes and scams have found a quicker way to expand than by chain mail: in instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp or Telegram, where they generally pass through fewer controls that on social networks. A good part of the blame lies with the forwarded messagesalthough not all applications manage the same.
While in WhatsApp and in the majority of applications forwarded messages are anonymous (that is to say, its origin is unknown), this is not the case with Telegram. There, unless you have changed the default settings, the forwarded messages are linked to the account that I think.
On WhatsApp: limits and origin unknown
A week ago, WhatsApp began to limit the forwarding of the messages that have already been forwarded multiple times. This type of messages, which WhatsApp difference with a double arrow right next to the text “Forwarded”, you can only forward to 1 chat each time.
Example of forwarded message many times in WhatsApp This new limit is a stricter version of the previous limitation of forwarding a message up to five people at onceand that is still present for the normal messages or forwarded with a single arrow.
Technically it is possible to forward to more people, but you have to go one-on-onefor which send a same message to, say, 100 people, will require that you repeat the forwarding 100 times if it is a message marked as forwarded multiple or 20 times in the rest (then you can go five on five).
In WhatsApp, forwarded messages are anonymousso that it is impossible to know who wrote the original message and, in case of need, verify the information or determine if it is a reliable source or not, beyond the numbers of phone-enabled share messages with possible hoaxes with verification services recognized.
In the Telegram, without limits and signed
In Telegram can be forwarded messages without limits and usually are linked to the account that wrote them Telegram has opted for a completely different road in its messaging service. For the moment, there are no limits in the forwards (at least, that we know: we have been able to forward a message to more than 50 people), although usually forwarded messages are linked to those who wrote.
Telegram no difference between forwarded messages once or dozens of times, but in the top of the message will appear, generally, the name of the person that wrote it. Playing on the name, open the profile in a Telegram, even if you don’t have in your contacts list.
In the settings of the Telegram, in the section Privacy and security > forwarded Messagesyou can choose who can forward your messages keeping the link to your accounteven though the option only applies to the link and not the indicative of who wrote it.
Telegram allows you to prevent messages of yours forwarded to link back to your account, although it is not the default option Yet, even with this option set to No onethe forwarded messages are still showing the name of the person who I thinkunlike in WhatsApp. It is true, however, that these forwarded messages are sometimes displayed as coming from “a user”, when the privacy settings of the account is as restingida few details are shared with strangers.
Be that as it may, the default settings of Telegram allows you to more easily identify who has written a forwarded message, so that can be a good indicator to determine if a message shared massively is legit or not, then hide this fact implies having to change the settings manually, something that not everyone bothers.
it was originally published in
Xataka Android
by
Ivan Ramirez
.
