this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2023
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They're "encrypted" meaning they claim so and nobody was able to prove otherwise.
Even assuming they really are encrypted end-to-end, the app can still spy on you directly on your phone. It has access to all your conversation history and everything you type. 😊
Now, I'm not saying they're sending that verbatim to Facebook but it's enough to get the gist of a conversation. Like, that you were talking about hair products. That's enough to be able to sell some ads to you and your conversation partner.
WhatsApp is truly end-to-end encrypted using the signal protocol. The same protocol Signal uses (believe it or not). Meta truly cannot read your messages. But they CAN see who you are messaging, how often you message them, when you are messaging them, where you are when you message them, and plenty more. They can collect metadata. Metadata is the data they actually care about. Honestly, it doesn't matter as much if you're asking your friend if they want to hang or sending nudes. The metadata is what they want, and it's exactly what they're collecting.
Just because it is end to end encryption, doesn't mean one of those ends can't send those messages to Facebook (also end-to-end encrypted).
Assuming they didn't pervert the signal protocol, then they really really cannot access your messages, even if they wanted to. The encryption key would only be stored on the local device. Though, it would honestly benefit them to actually do this. They then cannot provide user data to law enforcement no matter how many warrants there are, they cannot be susceptible to rogue employees stealing the information, and the list goes on. And like I said, they really don't need to know what your messages say. They get all the information they want from the metadata.
hmmm got it, might be intrtrsting to do an experiment where u look up your facebook feed, see what products u get ads for, yhrn talk with a friend over on whatsapp about a certain product or typr of product u want to buy, and then check if u start getting ads for said product
It has happened to me.
r u sure u only talked/mentioned it through whatsapp, and didn't do any prior or post searches of related things in a browser?
just saying cause it' easy to miss
Positive.