Facebook’s WhatsApp blasted for failing to protect users’ rights
Facebook-owned WhatsApp is not doing a good enough job of protecting users’ rights, according to a new report from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit group that focuses on civil liberties online.
The hugely popular mobile messaging app has three million users in Hong Kong, a city of around seven million people, but fails to respect the privacy of their data, the group said, stressing how the app does not notify users when the government requests access to their messages.
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WhatsApp compared unfavourably to Apple, Amazon, Dropbox, Facebook and Yahoo, receiving one of the lowest scores on the EFF’s latest “Who Has Your Back” report. It has released the paper annually for the last five years.
Companies were awarded points based on a series of measures. These include whether the companies notify users that the government is looking into their data, how long the companies store the data for, and how strictly they adhere to industry practices by requiring law enforcement agencies to provide warrants.
According to the report, WhatsApp fails on all counts.
Facebook declined to comment on the matter.