Messages from all 2 billion WhatsApp users can be read by Facebook contractors

A new ProPublica investigation has questioned Facebook's privacy policy and the encryption of the messaging platform WhatsApp. This article highlights several key takeaways that are not explicitly disclosed for a 2 billion user base.

Although WhatsApp has supported end-to-end encryption since 2016, in some cases 1,000 contract employees using Facebook's dedicated software can read messages sent from one user to another. When someone sends a message, even in a private chat, the AI ​​algorithm looks for suspicious activity related to terrorism, child abuse, and so on. In case of detection, the AI ​​transmits the received message along with four previous messages to a real person for consideration.

The user can then be blocked or included in the watchlist. Unencrypted messages from users on the “proactive” list can be read along with other user data such as user groups, phone numbers, unique phone IDs, connection status messages, battery levels, and signal strength.

The article says that all of these methods are outlined in the user's privacy policy, but you have to dig around to find them.

In short, WhatsApp end-to-end encryption may not be as strong as the developers claim.