WhatsApp has placed new limits on message forwarding, the Facebook-owned company announced on Tuesday.

The decision is part of efforts to curb the spread of misinformation about COVID-19.

The new policy means users can forward certain messages to one “chat” at a time. It aims to limit the rapid spread of content, which is provocative and likely to be false.

“We’ve seen a significant increase in the amount of forwarding which users have told us can feel overwhelming and can contribute to the spread of misinformation,” WhatsApp said in a blog post.

“We believe it’s important to slow the spread of these messages down to keep WhatsApp a place for personal conversation.”

In 2019, WhatsApp set limits on forwarded messages to five chats at a time.