Category Archives: WhatsApp

What happens when WhatsApp’s new terms start on 15 May?

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Messaging app will begin to turn off features until users agree to Facebook’s updated terms of service

If you have not agreed to WhatsApp’s controversial new terms of service by 15 May, the app will begin to turn off features until you do, Facebook announced in an update to its FAQ page.

At that point, the screen asking users to accept the terms of service set by Facebook, WhatsApp’s parent company, will become permanent, with users needing to click through to directly use WhatsApp at all. Users will still be able to interact with the app in other ways for “a few weeks”, however, such as receiving calls, replying to messages, or responding to missed calls.

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Israeli spyware firm NSO Group faces renewed US scrutiny

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Department of Justice said to have asked WhatsApp for details of alleged targeting of clients in 2019

NSO Group appears to be facing renewed scrutiny by the US Department of Justice months after leading technology companies said the spyware maker was “powerful and dangerous” and should be held liable to the country’s anti-hacking laws.

DoJ lawyers recently approached the messaging app WhatsApp with technical questions about the alleged targeting of 1,400 of its users by NSO Group’s government clients in 2019, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

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WhatsApp to try again to change privacy policy in mid-May

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Firm sets 15 May deadline to agree to new terms but will let notifications continue for short time afterwards

After an abortive attempt to change its privacy policy led to millions of users signing up for competing services, WhatsApp has said it will try for a second time to roll out the update in mid-May.

In an effort to smooth the transition, WhatsApp will for the first time allow limited access to its services for users who do not agree to the new terms of service. From 15 May, those users will no longer be able to send or read messages but will continue to be able to receive calls and notifications for a “short time”.

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WhatsApp loses millions of users after terms update

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Poorly-executed change to terms of service sends messaging app’s subscribers flocking to competitors

A poorly explained update to its terms of service has pushed WhatsApp users to adopt alternative services such as Signal and Telegram in their millions.

The exodus was so large that WhatsApp has been forced to delay the implementation of the new terms, which had been slated for 8 February, and run a damage limitation campaign to explain to users the changes they were making.

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Most girls and young women have experienced abuse online, report finds

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Cyberstalking, body shaming and being sent explicit content among issues highlighted by Plan International

Most girls and young women using social media have experienced abuse that has driven them offline and left them traumatised, according to a new global survey.

More than half of the 14,000 15- to 25-year-olds interviewed by Plan International said they had been cyberstalked, sent explicit messages and images, or abused online.

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Facebook merges Messenger chat service with Instagram

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Users will be able to send chats, photos and videos between the two platforms for first time

Facebook Messenger and Instagram have merged, more than 18 months after the Facebook chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, announced his intention to integrate the two platforms.

Instagram’s old direct messaging service, Instagram Direct, has been replaced by Messenger, allowing users to send chats, photos and videos between the two platforms for the first time.

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WhatsApp spyware attack: senior clergymen in Togo among activists targeted

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Bishop from Togo among 1,400 individuals alerted by WhatsApp to malware attack

A prominent Catholic bishop and a priest in Togo have been told they were targeted by spyware made by the private surveillance firm NSO Group, in the first known case of its kind involving members of the clergy.

A joint investigation by the Guardian and the French newspaper Le Monde can reveal that Bishop Benoît Alowonou and five other critics of Togo’s repressive government were alerted by WhatsApp last year that their mobile phones had been targeted with the spying technology.

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WhatsApp confirms Catalan politician’s phone was target of 2019 attack

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Attack on Roger Torrent seen as possible act of domestic espionage

WhatsApp has confirmed that the mobile phone of a leading pro-independence politician in Catalonia was targeted over its messaging app in a 2019 attack that has been condemned as a possible case of domestic espionage in Europe.

In a letter to Roger Torrent, the speaker of the Catalan parliament, and obtained by the Guardian and El Pais, the company confirmed that his personal WhatsApp account was “targeted in an attempt to gain unauthorised access to data and communications on the device”.

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Who has been using spyware on Catalan independence campaigners?

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At least two victims have blamed the mobile phone infiltration on a ‘dirty war’ by the Spanish state

In spring last year, Sergi Miquel Gutiérrez realised something odd was going on with his mobile.

“I remember some issues, for example losing some information on WhatsApp, and losing emails and having them appear in places I didn’t put them,” he said.

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Calls for inquiry over claims Catalan lawmaker’s phone was hacked

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Speaker of regional parliament was told he was targeted by spyware in ‘possible case of domestic espionage’

Current and former leaders of Catalonia’s pro-independence government have called for an inquiry after it emerged that the speaker of the region’s parliament has been warned that his mobile was targeted using spyware its makers say is only sold to governments to track criminals and terrorists.

On Monday, a joint investigation by the Guardian and El País revealed that Roger Torrent and at least two other pro-independence supporters have been told they were targeted last year in what experts describe as a “possible case of domestic political espionage” in Europe.

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Israeli spyware used to target Moroccan journalist, Amnesty claims

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Amnesty alleges phone of Omar Radi in Morocco was infected by NSO’s Pegasus software

As NSO Group faced mounting criticism last year that its hacking software was being used illegally against journalists, dissidents and campaigners around the world, the Israeli spyware company unveiled a new policy that it said showed its commitment to human rights.

Now an investigation has alleged that another journalist, Omar Radi in Morocco, was targeted with NSO’s Pegasus software and put under surveillance just days after the company made that promise.

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Most online grooming offences in UK committed on Facebook-owned apps

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Data shows 55% of offences where the means of communication was given involved firm’s apps

More than half of online grooming offences recorded under a law that made it illegal to send sexual messages to children were committed on Facebook-owned apps, figures reveal.

The data, obtained by the NSPCC under freedom of information laws, show 10,019 offences of sexual communication with a child were recorded since the legislation was introduced in April 2017.

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Documents reveal FBI head defended encryption for WhatsApp before becoming fierce critic

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Christopher Wray defended encryption in 2015 as a lawyer, contradicting his current opposition to the practice

Christopher Wray, the FBI director who has been one of the fiercest critics of encryption under the Trump administration, previously worked as a lawyer for WhatsApp, where he defended the practice, according to new court filings.

The documents, which were released late on Wednesday night as part of an unrelated matter, show Wray worked for WhatsApp in 2015 while he was an attorney for the Washington law firm of King & Spalding.

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WhatsApp: Israeli firm ‘deeply involved’ in hacking our users

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NSO Group allegedly connected to hacks of 1,400 people including human rights activists

WhatsApp has alleged in new court filings that an Israeli spyware company used US-based servers and was “deeply involved” in carrying out mobile phone hacks of 1,400 WhatsApp users, including senior government officials, journalists, and human rights activists.

The new claims about NSO Group allege that the Israeli company bears responsibility in serious human rights violations, including the hacking of more than a dozen Indian journalists and Rwandan dissidents.

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Influencers among ‘key distributors’ of coronavirus misinformation

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Study suggests mainstream news outlets struggling to compete with celebrities’ and politicians’ reach

Celebrities and politicians with large social media followings are proving to be key distributors of disinformation relating to coronavirus, according to a study that suggests the factcheckers and mainstream news outlets are struggling to compete with the reach of influencers.

The actor Woody Harrelson and the singer MIA have faced criticism after sharing baseless claims about the supposed connection of 5G to the pandemic, while comments by the likes of the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, playing down the scale of the crisis in the face of scientific evidence have attracted criticism in recent days.

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NSO Group points finger at state clients in WhatsApp spying case

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In court filing, Israeli spyware company says it does not operate technology it provides

An Israeli spyware company that has been accused by WhatsApp of hacking 1,400 of its users, including journalists, human rights activists, and diplomatic officials, has blamed its government clients for the alleged abuses, according to court documents.

NSO Group – whose technology is reported to have been used against dozens of targets including Pakistani intelligence officials, Indian journalists and exiled Rwandan political activists – also claimed in legal documents that the lawsuit brought against the company by WhatsApp threatened to infringe on its clients’ “national security and foreign policy concerns”.

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WhatsApp to impose new limit on forwarding to fight fake news

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Restrictions on frequently forwarded messages intended to disrupt false Covid-19 claims

WhatsApp is to impose a strict new limit on message forwarding as the Facebook-owned chat app seeks to slow the dissemination of fake news, the company has announced.

If a user receives a frequently forwarded message – one which has been forwarded more than five times – under the new curbs, they will only be able to send it on to a single chat at a time. That is one fifth the previous limit of five chats, imposed in 2019.

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US senator to investigate if foreign spyware used to target Americans

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Exclusive: Ron Wyden says hacking claims raise “serious national security issues”

An influential US senator has told the Guardian he is examining the possible hacking of US citizens with technology sold by the NSO Group and other foreign surveillance companies, an issue he said raised “serious national security issues”.

Ron Wyden’s remarks come just weeks after a lawsuit was filed by WhatsApp against NSO, alleging that the Israeli company’s malware was used against 1,400 WhatsApp users in 20 countries over a 14-day period this year.

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WhatsApp ‘hack’ is serious rights violation, say alleged victims

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Activists speak out after being warned of alleged cyber-attack to infiltrate mobile phones

More than a dozen pro-democracy activists, journalists and academics have spoken out after WhatsApp privately warned them they had allegedly been the victims of cyber-attacks designed to secretly infiltrate their mobile phones.

The individuals received alerts saying they were among more than 100 human rights campaigners whose phones were believed to have been hacked using malware sold by NSO Group, an Israeli cyberweapons company.

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WhatsApp sues Israeli firm, accusing it of hacking activists’ phones

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NSO Group’s spyware allegedly used in cyber-attacks on lawyers and journalists

WhatsApp has launched an unprecedented lawsuit against a cyber weapons firm which it has accused of being behind secret attacks on more than 100 human rights activists, lawyers, journalists, and academics in just two weeks earlier this year.

The social media firm is suing NSO Group, an Israeli surveillance company, saying it is responsible for a series of highly sophisticated cyber-attacks which it claims violated American law in an “unmistakeable pattern of abuse”.

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