{"id":538595,"date":"2024-05-25T20:51:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-25T18:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=538595"},"modified":"2024-05-25T23:23:53","modified_gmt":"2024-05-25T21:23:53","slug":"whatsapp-privacy-and-security-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/security\/538595-whatsapp-privacy-and-security-warning.html","title":{"rendered":"WhatsApp privacy and security warning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk has raised concerns about WhatsApp\u2019s security and privacy, saying the company exports users\u2019 data every night.<\/p>\n

WhatsApp promotes itself as a highly secure messaging application with end-to-end encryption of all chats.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnd-to-end encryption ensures only you and the person you’re communicating with can read or listen to what is sent, and nobody in between, not even WhatsApp,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour messages are secured with a lock, and only the recipient and you have the special key needed to unlock and read them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company added that business messaging is equally private and secure with end-to-end encryption.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery WhatsApp message is protected by the same Signal encryption protocol that secures messages before they leave your device,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you message a WhatsApp business account, your message is delivered securely to the destination chosen by the business.\u201d<\/p>\n

WhatsApp said it believes messaging and calling should always be as private and secure as having face-to-face conversations.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one can search for your phone number or read your personal messages,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ll never stop building new features to give you extra layers of privacy, and more control over your messages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Musk dismissed WhatsApp\u2019s security claims<\/strong><\/a>, saying, “WhatsApp exports your user data every night. Some people still think it is secure\u201d.<\/p>\n

He has previously accused WhatsApp owner Meta of being disingenuous about user privacy and security.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Musk said, \u201cMeta can\u2019t be trusted\u201d in response to a fine by Turkey\u2019s competition board over its data-sharing practices.<\/p>\n

Musk\u2019s attack on Meta and WhatsApp comes amidst increased scrutiny of Meta\u2019s risks related to child safety.<\/p>\n

Previous WhatsApp privacy concerns<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In September 2021, the investigative journalism organisation ProPublica conducted an extensive investigation into WhatsApp’s privacy.<\/p>\n

It alleged that WhatsApp and Meta used outside contractors and artificial intelligence systems to examine user communication.<\/p>\n

It added that Meta collaborated\u00a0with law enforcement. However, it would not say how much data it collects from WhatsApp users and what it does with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatsApp shares metadata, unencrypted records that can reveal a lot about a user\u2019s activity, with law enforcement agencies such as the Department of Justice,\u201d it reported.<\/p>\n

It added that WhatsApp user data helped prosecutors build a high-profile case against a Treasury Department employee.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatsApp is caught between users who expect privacy and law enforcement entities that effectively demand the opposite,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

The report added that WhatsApp employs around a thousand contractors to review content reported by users.<\/p>\n

When a message is reported, it, along with the four preceding messages, is decrypted and sent to the content review team.<\/p>\n

If a message is deemed inappropriate, a user can be placed on a watch list or ban them. The process is reportedly prone to misunderstandings.<\/p>\n

ProPublica further reported that WhatsApp makes use of AI systems to scan unencrypted data collected from users.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk has raised concerns about WhatsApp\u2019s security and privacy, saying the company exports users\u2019 data every night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":538597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[11373,35,2594],"class_list":["post-538595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security","tag-elon-musk","tag-headline","tag-whatsapp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538595"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}