WhatsApp is looking for solutions for fight spam by limiting messages that can be sent to unknown contacts who do not respond. In other words, if a user texts someone who hasn’t saved their number and that person doesn’t interact, that message will add to a monthly count. Once you reach a certain limit, you will no longer be able to contact new numbers until someone answers. The aim of this move is to drastically reduce the amount of unwanted messages, aggressive promotional campaigns, scams and various scams that clog the chats. WhatsApp therefore wants to make theengagement – that is, the real involvement between users – in a parameter to be taken into account when deciding whether or not to limit a given account.
How the WhatsApp spam filter works
The How the WhatsApp anti-spam filter works it is conceptually very simple. When a message is sent from an account to a user who has not saved the sender’s number as a contact, a count is triggered when the contacted user does not respond to the message received. Reached a certain limit the user whose messages do not get replies is branded as a spammer and this is how the temporary blocking of sending other messages to strangers is triggered.
In this way, WhatsApp wants to target those who abuse the system, such as companies that send promotional messages to unverified lists or scammers who try to contact random numbers to perpetrate fraud attempts. It is not yet known what the exact limit is but anyone who comes close to exceeding it will receive a warning on the screen, a pop-up inviting them to change their behavior before being banned from the platform.
For the majority of “common” users the new rule will not substantially change anything: Asked by the information site TechCrunchWhatsApp explained that it is It is highly unlikely that normal use of the platform will lead to the limit being reached. This is because WhatsApp’s goal is targeted, and intends to reduce the so-called “cold outreach”an English expression which refers to cold contactthat is, attempting to write to someone you don’t know and who hasn’t given any consent to be contacted. This practice is common in digital marketing and sales, but it is also a leading cause of spam on messaging platforms.
From what is currently known, iThe test is already active in a dozen countriesincluding theIndiaa crucial market with over half a billion active users. Soon could be extended globally.
Meta’s attempts to fight spam
From a technical point of view, this measure is not isolated but is part of a series of interventions that WhatsApp and its parent company Meta have been implementing for months to make the app safer and less intrusive. Already a July 2024 the company had introduced limits on the marketing messages that can be sent in a month and, again in the same year, it also added the possibility for users to unsubscribe from promotional communications coming from companies. Atbeginning of 2025then they were tested limits also to “transmitted messages”i.e. those forwarded simultaneously to multiple recipients, another channel often exploited to spread chain letters and misleading content of various kinds.
