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WhatsApp on a smartphone screen: two billion users worldwide have installed the chat app
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With the attempt to enforce new terms of use, the Facebook subsidiary WhatsApp has caused a certain amount of disturbance within its user base.
Now the company is starting a new offensive in terms of privacy: The chat service is working on a new function that can delete messages immediately after they have been read.
With the new function, family members can, for example, send a password, said WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart in a press conference about the start of a new advertising campaign in Great Britain. WhatsApp has been offering strong end-to-end encryption for years, which even prevents Facebook from reading private chats. However, if you can access the sender's or recipient's smartphone, you can usually read the entire chat history.
"Overall, people don't want their messages to last forever," stressed Cathcart. “When we talk, we don't have a recorder with us. So it's strange that digital chat platforms save them forever. «Back in November, WhatsApp introduced self-erasing messages that disappear in group chats after seven days. The company now wants to expand this function step by step. Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg announced at the beginning of June that image files, for example, could only be viewed once.
The function does not offer complete protection: Recipients of a message can save the incoming functions using a screenshot, for example. There is also no precise schedule for the new functions. Other services such as Snapchat, Signal or Telegram introduced such deletion functions before WhatsApp.
The WhatsApp messenger, which has two billion users worldwide, came under fire when it tried to enforce new terms of use at the beginning of May. Although the company had already rejected reports at the beginning of the year that it would then share more data with parent company Facebook, many users viewed the update with suspicion. In the meantime, the company has partially rowed back and assured that users could continue to use the service without restrictions for the time being, even if they refuse the new terms of use.
WhatsApp boss Cathcart now admitted errors in the announcement of the new rules. "We have to clearly communicate what we are doing and why." WhatsApp missed this. “We didn't get any clearer until we saw the confusion. It's our responsibility, ”said Cathcart. In the meantime, the vast majority of users have agreed. However, the manager did not want to give exact figures. WhatsApp had planned the current advertising campaign for end-to-end encryption in advance.
The chat operator is also under increasing pressure from governments that require the ability to read secret chat messages.
Cathcart turned down such demands: "I hope that, in time, governments will see that the most important role they can play is to provide more security."
Facebook Messenger should also be encrypted in the future.
tmk / dpa