WhatsApp | Common News Update

Mar132021 by adminNo Comments

How ‘religiously targeted’ vaccine misinformation circulating on WhatsApp is being dealt with by faith groups

Faith groups are leading the fight against vaccine misinformation on what one called the "lawless wasteland" of WhatsApp.Messages spreading fake COVID-19 information are widely shared on the private messaging app. This is often through a simple "forwarding" feature that copies messages to other contacts. But the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) and other groups have been pushing back on that disinformation.Sky News has been collecting and analysing messages to monitor what type of misinformation is shared on WhatsApp, while also speaking to groups which are tackling the problem head on.One example of a vaccine misinformation message on WhatsApp is a video showing two unidentified women falsely claiming that a type of COVID-19 vaccine will change people's DNA. ...

Feb212021 by adminNo Comments

WhatsApp to go ahead with changes despite backlash

Technology

Getty ImagesWhatsApp is pushing ahead with controversial changes to its terms of service, but altering the way it notifies users following a backlash. After its first announcement in January, millions of users downloaded apps from WhatsApp's competitors.The Facebook-owned platform previously said it had been the victim of "misinformation" around the change.But WhatsApp now says it has "reflected" on how it could have explained the changes better.The phrasing of the warning in the initial push led to widespread fears that it was going to share large amounts of WhatsApp data with Facebook. In reality, very little had changed in that area - and almost all users had previously accepted the type of data sharing involved.As part of its second attempt to convince users, WhatsApp will begin displa...

Jan152021 by adminNo Comments

WhatsApp delays launch of controversial feature after privacy backlash

Technology

WhatsApp is delaying the rollout of new business features following a user backlash over the company's data sharing practices.The delay is a setback for its plan to generate revenue by facilitating commercial exchanges on the messaging app, which Facebook acquired for $ 19bn in 2014 but has been slow to monetise. WhatsApp has said users will no longer have to review and accept its updated terms by 8 February - and no accounts will be suspended or deleted by that date. Privacy advocates have jumped on the WhatsApp changes, pointing to what they say is Facebook's poor track record of supporting consumer interests when handling their data.Many have suggested users would migrate to other platforms, and rival app Signal surged up the App Store charts on iPhone and the Google Play Store on A...

Dec222020 by adminNo Comments

Tech giants unite against company accused of WhatsApp hack

Technology

Some of the biggest technology companies in the world, including Google and Microsoft, have joined Facebook's legal battle against the private spyware company NSO Group.It follows Facebook launching a legal challenge against the Israeli firm after confirming that an initially unnamed hacking group had developed a tool which could take control of victims' phones by calling them over WhatsApp. The companies now join Facebook's lawsuit, accusing NSO Group of developing "powerful and dangerous" tools that have enabled authoritarian governments to spy on more than 1,400 people around the world, as reported by Reuters. Image: Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was reportedly targeted using NSO tools At the time, WhatsApp said that it had dete...

Dec92020 by adminNo Comments

UK has not ordered ‘backdoor access’ to WhatsApp messages

Technology

The UK has not ordered Facebook to provide law enforcement agencies with a way to access end-to-end encrypted messages on WhatsApp, Sky News has learnt, despite a legal power which could allow it to do so in secret.However, the power may be used to prevent Facebook from applying the same encryption protocol to its other services, something the company plans to do despite concerns the move will blind it to child predators' grooming victims over its platform. The notice would allow Facebook to use a potentially weaker form of encryption to protect users' messages, while also forcing the company to retain the ability to monitor those messages and be able to deliver decrypted conversations in response to a warrant - something it cannot do with WhatsApp. Ima...