Do you know that your WhatsApp communications are not really private and secure?
WhatsApp is not a reliable platform in terms of its assurance of privacy
Ever since Facebook purchased Whatsapp in 2014, the privacy of the world’s largest messaging app has been degraded, so unfortunately the truth is Whatsapp is not as secure and private as its millions of users imagine the app to be.
The majority of WhatsApp’s 2 billion global users believe WhatsApp’s assurances of being a privacy preserving, reliable messenger app.
WhatsApp’s assurance is even displayed on the screen before a user begins messaging, it reads - “No one outside of this chat, not even WhatsApp, can read or listen to them.”
Familiar text assurance we have seen in the WhatsApp’s chat screen from WhatApp's tweeter
This assurance is false and it’s very important for us to understand this as users of WhatsApp.
The basis on which Whatsapp gives its users the assurance of Privacy
WhatsApp’s claim to be a privacy preserving messenger centers around the application applying “end-to-end encryption” feature, where chats and messages exchanged through Whatsapp are encrypted.
Here, the chats, messages sent in Whatsapp are going to be in an unreadable format and will open up only to the person who that chat or message is sent to, which is the intended destination point of that message/chat.
All this is true, but read on…
WhatsApp's capability to read all it’s user messages even though its encrypted
Facebook and instagram are not privacy preserving apps because the “end-to-end encryption” feature is not integrated there but, it’s not true that the messages exchanged in Whatsapp can’t be read by WhatsApp employees. They can be read and are read and moderated by WhatsApp.
WhatsApp uses the services of thousands of contract employees, situated in offices of Austin, Texas, Dublin, Singapore whose job it is to screen through scores of private WatsApp messages for inappropriate content using a special facebook software. This is done to messages that are flagged as inappropriate by a Watsapp user and then backed as inappropriate by WhatsApps’ Artificial Intelligence algorithm.
These contract workers, will have to judge weather the Whatsapp content is inappropriate examining weather the image, text, video that flashes on their screen is spam, related to child porn, is a terrorist communication etc, generally within a span of 1 minute,
WhatsApp markets itself as a privacy preserving app which is not entirely true
WhatsApp is not transparent about its content moderation activities and does not disclose any details about those policing activities. This is not the case with its social media siblings, facebook and instagram as these apps put out quarterly transparency reports with details on the number of accounts they have moderated for objectionable content.
Whatsapp keeps claiming that the company gives utmost importance to privacy of its users and the app is designed keeping in mind the users' right of privacy while they take needed measures to prevent abuse.
However, there are lots of instances where WhatsApp has disclosed user conversations under pressure from powerful entities like Governments etc, and this lack of reliable privacy in WhatsApp which should worry users, especially users who are Citizens of countries that have authoritarian Governments.
More on this in my other subsequent articles…
Conclusion - Let’s take data privacy seriously, its important!!
I will delve further on this Whatsapp privacy issue in my subsequent articles.
Reference Article - https://scroll.in/article/1004897/investigation-your-whatsapp-messages-are-far-less-private-than-you-think
I urge everyone to read the above scroll article, based on which I have written this piece because it’s important to understand how secure and private your communications are on whatsApp.
Generally, many of us don’t take data privacy very seriously, however, we must understand that we have the right to privacy and it's important for a lot of reasons, including safety from intimidation by big powers and other entities etc.
Thank you for reading, have a great day!!
Greetings @mintymile
I've also been hearing similar news about whatsApp not respecting people's privacy when chatting or communicating and I think this is why most people prefer using telegram to WhatsApp for things like this.
Thanks for sharing this great post with love from @hardaeborlaand and I hope you have a great day ahead ❤️💕❤️
Use Signal. Telegram chat is not encrypted by default.
Thank you for such an important contribution, truly whatsapp gives us the guarantee of privacy and we all believe in it, the same has happened with Facebook and Instagran I think we all should be aware that these or all applications take our data, and do little with our privacy.
thank you
Use signal, its respects your privacy!!
Hi @mintylime
I have been using Telegram more than Whatsapp for a long time now, for different reasons. I feel for some reason more secure with telegram, although most probably my information is not totally secure either, of course.
These big businesses must be maintained somehow, what I see logical is that they can sell information to make a lot of money.
Hey @josevas217,
You can use signal, it is safe and secure. Telegram chats by default are not end to end encrypted.
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I never know whatsApp lack privacy if not for this post I just believe in what they said without doing any research. What I just noticed is that WhatsApp account can easily be hacked.
Use Signal!!
Hello, according to the new Facebook company policies, Whatsapp can access more of our personal information, which makes us uncomfortable, yet many people continue to use Whatsapp since they used to.
I believe there are several alternatives to Whatsapp that we can use, such as Telegram and other famous communication platforms.
Thank you for providing this information.
No telegram is not private and secure as well, as chats there by default are not end to end encrypted!!
Signal is!!
Greetings mintymile
Particularly I think that none of these services are safe and each of them uses our information for their best convenience, as it is already known some of them have been denounced for making public private information of users. But beyond that I think it has to do with powerful governments to know more about all of us (Espionage).
Yup, they are other pressure from Govt. to reveal information!!
Signal is private and secure.
The problem is that when something is totally private, it also lends itself to crimes, such as child trafficking, prostitution, drug trafficking, among others. Nothing can be totally private, the problem is when something as simple as a nude photo can be susceptible to be commercialized without your permission, or your data, your life, and that is the other extreme of corporations. Good post.
By @hojaraskita
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Actually, watsapp has a record of revealing information of people who were whistle blowers for Govt. curuption and all... it is not a reliable private messaging platform unfortunately!!
Signal is. But Yes your point of view makes sense, there should be a mechanism which takes action on these wrong kind of messages circulated in watsapp. That formula has to be figured out without compromising on privacy of users as much as possible.
We I have also heard about it and in India we have a big issue regarding this.goverment has send notice also to the whatsapp and other social apps regarding the privacy of the users.
But all this is in the hands of whatsapp they can easily read your msg and can manipulate the market with that data.