Whatsapp advertises secure end-to-end encryption.
As a US magazine claims to have found out, employees still access chats.
Kassel - So far, Whatsapp *, which belongs to Facebook, has always claimed that no one can read their own chats.
As the US magazine Propublica has now established, this is not entirely the truth.
First of all, it should be said that the messages sent are encrypted in the popular messenger app.
As a result, the conversations should not be able to be searched by WhatsApp, the parent company Facebook or the police.
The assertion that because of the encryption nobody can read the course is not correct, claimed Peter Elkind, a reporter from Propublica.
Third-party employees check reported WhatsApp chats
“Whatsapp does reveal that the last couple of messages have been released for review.
It doesn't say exactly how many there are.
According to our research, there are five.
What they don't say either: an army of perhaps 1,000 external content moderators look at the reported chats after an AI system has checked them in advance, ”the report says.
These moderators are not employed by Whatsapp, but work for third-party companies.
The people are distributed in Dublin, Singapore and Austin, Texas, Ireland.
The author of the US magazine explained that, for example, user histories are released to the group for reading as soon as certain messages are reported, for example due to offensive or offensive content.
Criticism of Whatsapp: Messenger is said to collect an unusually large amount of data
Elkind criticized the fact that the Facebook subsidiary entrusts employees with highly sensitive data to external companies.
Propublica also accuses the messenger service of collecting an unusually large amount of metadata from its users.
These are collections of data that are correspondingly large depending on the access requirements of the respective app.
In the meantime, many people have even migrated to alternatives due to the new WhatsApp terms and conditions.
However, Propublica recently issued a clarification on their report, emphasizing that “The company only investigates chat history messages that users have reported as potentially abusive.
It doesn't break the end-to-end encryption. "
Examination by external employees: Expert takes Whatsapp under protection
In the case of Whatsapp, this should be the identity of the user, telephone number, profile photo, status message, battery level of the phone, language and time zone as well as associated Facebook accounts.
In a statement to the ARD, Facebook said that the reporting function prevents serious abuse.
Like other messenger apps, Whatsapp is dependent on reported violations of terms of use or laws.
As heise.de reports, an automatic search of the chats with the help of artificial intelligence is not possible - as with Facebook and Instagram.
But despite all the criticism on the part of Propublica, experts also protect Whatsapp's approach.
Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, explained on Twitter that reporting inappropriate content and a subsequent check would not undermine the messenger's end-to-end encryption.
Nevertheless, there are "a lot of problems" with Whatsapp.
Video: Speaking of chat - Whatsapp also changed group chat rules
Whatsapp wants to give the opportunity to report inappropriate or offensive content
Whatsapp itself also comments on the allegations: "WhatsApp provides a way for people to report spam or abuse, which includes sharing the most recent messages in a chat.
This feature is important for preventing the worst abuse on the internet.
We strongly disagree with the notion that accepting reports a user chooses to send us is incompatible with end-to-end encryption. "
You can find more news about the popular Messenger app on our Whatsapp theme page *.
Accordingly, Whatsapp promotes the reporting of spam or offensive and offensive messages by allowing users to report the latest messages within a chat. According to the WhatsApp spokesman, such a report by users does not contradict end-to-end encryption, but rather prevents inappropriate or offensive content. (Nail Akkoyun)
* hna.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
