

Ultimately, privacy-focused users must rely on policies and platform trust as heavily as they do on technological bullet points. AdvertisementĪn "end-to-end" encrypted messaging platform could choose to, for example, perform automated AI-based content scanning of all messages on a device, then forward automatically flagged messages to the platform's cloud for further action. The security of "end-to-end" encryption depends on the endpoints themselves-and in the case of a mobile messaging application, that includes the application and its users. When a message recipient flags a WhatsApp message for review, that message is batched with the four most recent prior messages in that thread and then sent on to WhatsApp's review system as attachments to a ticket.Īlthough nothing indicates that Facebook currently collects user messages without manual intervention by the recipient, it's worth pointing out that there is no technical reason it could not do so. Messages are typically flagged-and reviewed-for the same reasons they would be on Facebook itself, including claims of fraud, spam, child porn, and other illegal activities.

Once flagged, the message is copied on the recipient's device and sent as a separate message to Facebook for review. The loophole in WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption is simple: The recipient of any WhatsApp message can flag it.
