WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart has rebutted Elon Musk’s allegations that the messaging app “exports your user data every night,” insisting that such claims are false. Responding on social media platform X, Cathcart declared Musk’s statement as “incorrect,” emphasizing that WhatsApp messages are end-to-end encrypted, preventing the company from reading any user messages.
Supporting Cathcart, Yann LeCun, Meta’s AI chief, criticized Musk’s claims with solid language on X and accused Musk on Threads of making inconsistent and unrealistic assertions about AI, alongside “spewing conspiracy theories” on his platforms.
Musk is known for engaging in online disputes, and this instance is no exception. Cathcart reiterated that only the sender and recipient can read WhatsApp messages, highlighting the company’s commitment to encryption. WhatsApp has previously asserted it would rather face a ban in the UK than compromise on its encryption standards.
Musk’s ambiguous claim about “user data” being uploaded could be interpreted as referring to metadata, which includes additional information sent alongside the actual message. Security researcher Tommy Mysk clarified on X, “WhatsApp messages are end-to-end encrypted, but user data is not only about messages. That also includes the metadata such as user location, which contacts the user is communicating with, the patterns of when the user is online, etc.”
While WhatsApp does share some metadata with other Meta-owned platforms, it does not include the contents of messages. Dr. Tristan Henderson, a computer science lecturer at the University of St Andrews, noted, “One area of particular concern has been WhatsApp sharing data with other Meta companies. This does include sufficient metadata for these Meta companies to make suggestions and show personalized adverts, which in itself shows what metadata can reveal.”
The WhatsApp Privacy Policy explicitly states that user data may be utilized to “show relevant offers and ads across the Meta Company Products,” underlining the nuances of data sharing practices within the Meta ecosystem.
