A New WhatsApp “Communities” Feature Makes Organizing Groups A Snap. Critics Say It Will Make Spreading Misinformation Easier.
A researcher doubts WhatsApp's claim that Communities will "meaningfully reduce the spread of potentially harmful misinformation."
Pranav Dixit
Immigrants Keep Getting Lied To By Human Smugglers On Platforms Like Facebook, WhatsApp, and TikTok
"It raises a lot of questions about the platform's willingness to deal with offers of smuggling across the platform because it is profiting from them."
Adolfo Flores
Facebook, Instagram, And WhatsApp Are Back Online After A Long Outage
Facebook's apps were down for more than six hours.
Katie Notopoulos
WhatsApp Is Suing The Indian Government To Protect People’s Privacy
The company is fighting back against new rules that go into effect today in India.
Pranav Dixit
WhatsApp Fueled A Global Misinformation Crisis. Now, It’s Stuck In One.
A new privacy policy will be delayed three months after people were confused about what it would mean.
Pranav Dixit
People Are Really Mad About Facebook's Changes To WhatsApp's Privacy Policies
And they are moving to Signal and Telegram as a result.
Pranav Dixit
The US Government Says Facebook Needs To Sell Instagram And WhatsApp
Forty-eight attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission filed suit against the company Wednesday.
Craig Silverman
WhatsApp Is Imposing Stricter Limits On Forwarding Messages To Slow Down Coronavirus Misinformation
Once a message has been forwarded more than five times in total, it can now only be forwarded to one chat at a time.
Pranav Dixit
Fighting With Boomers About Coronavirus Misinformation On WhatsApp Won’t Make Any Of Us Less Afraid
The constant bombardment of WhatsApp forwards on supposed miracle cures for the coronavirus is about one thing: fear.
Nishita Jha
No Email. No WhatsApp. No Internet. This Is Now Normal Life In Kashmir.
Normal life has ground to a halt in the region as businesses lay off workers, hospitals struggle to care for patients, and ordinary people despair.
Pranav Dixit
Jeff Bezos Got A Shady WhatsApp Link From The Saudi Crown Prince And Was Hacked, UN Experts Said
The hack was part of an effort "to influence, if not silence, the Washington Post's reporting on Saudi Arabia,” the experts said.
Tasneem Nashrulla
Here’s What Giuliani’s Associate Lev Parnas Was Sharing On WhatsApp As He Investigated The Ukraine Conspiracy Theory
New evidence shows exactly how influenced by the right-wing online echo chamber Giuliani and his associates were — turns out the answer is: a lot.
Ryan Broderick
Facebook Tells US Attorney General It’s Not Prepared To Get Rid Of Encryption On WhatsApp And Messenger
“People’s private messages would be less secure and the real winners would be anyone seeking to take advantage of that weakened security,” the company wrote to leaders in the US, UK, and Australia.
Ryan Mac
Kashmiris Are Disappearing From WhatsApp
Kashmiris enduring their region's ongoing internet blackout are losing their WhatsApp accounts because of the platform's policy on inactive accounts.
Pranav Dixit
An Unidentified Government Spied On Dissidents In India Using A WhatsApp Exploit
Dozens of journalists, activists, and politicians were spied on in India. The Indian government hasn’t confirmed whether it ordered the hack.
Pranav Dixit
15 Photos Of The Massive Protests In Lebanon That Were Sparked By A WhatsApp Tax
Protesters from various religious backgrounds are angry over the crumbling state of the country and what they say is cronyism at the highest levels of government.
David Mack
WhatsApp Is Fighting To Keep Millions Of Users Untraceable
WhatsApp is “a space for private conversations online.” An Indian court could make it public.
Pranav Dixit
WhatsApp Is Now Letting Users Know When A Message Has Been Forwarded Too Many Times
The new feature is part of WhatsApp's efforts to curb how misinformation spreads on its platform.
Pranav Dixit
Here Are All The New Facebook, Instagram, And WhatsApp Features Announced At F8
Facebook held its annual F8 developer conference in San Jose, California, on Tuesday and Wednesday. After yet another scandal-ridden year, the company shared updates on its family of apps: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.
Nicole Nguyen
WhatsApp Has Become A Hotbed For Spreading Nazi Propaganda In Germany
BuzzFeed News has documented hundreds of uses of anti-Semitic or otherwise pro-Nazi stickers used in WhatsApp groups, despite those images being illegal in Germany.
Karsten Schmehl
The WhatsApp Cofounder Who Sold To Facebook For $19 Billion Tells Students To Delete Facebook
“That’s the bad part. We buy their products. We sign up for these websites. Delete Facebook, right?”
Ryan Mac
These Women Are Living In Fear After Their College Suspended Them Over A WhatsApp Message
Amid a tense atmosphere following the deadliest terror attack in Kashmir in decades, four young women are fearing for their lives over a WhatsApp message they allegedly sent.
Nishita Jha
These Confidential Charts Show Why Facebook Bought WhatsApp
The company was obsessively tracking WhatsApp and saw not just a rising competitor but a potential Facebook killer.
Charlie Warzel
WhatsApp Has Finally Hired A Head For India, The Company’s Largest Market
The instant messaging app has been under fire in India for its role in spreading misinformation that killed at least 29 people this year.
Pranav Dixit
The Racist Backlash To The Migrant Caravan Is Building In WhatsApp Groups In Mexico
Anti-immigrant sentiment is spreading through social media and spilling onto the streets of Tijuana as the caravan makes its final approach to the border.
Karla Zabludovsky
A Member Of A Far-Right WhatsApp Group Plotted To Assassinate Spain’s Prime Minister, Police Say
The suspect reportedly wanted revenge over a plan to exhume the remains of Spain’s former dictator.
Mitch Prothero
India’s Government Wants WhatsApp To Reveal The Locations And Phone Numbers Of People Using It For Real-World Violence
The government is pressing the instant messenger for traceability after mobs who fell for hoaxes spread through the app resulted in deadly violence.
Pranav Dixit
As Facebook Shows Off Its "Election War Room," A Massive WhatsApp Scandal Hits Brazil
The timing of Facebook's announcement throws into question how serious the company is about actually fighting misinformation in Brazil's election.
Ryan Broderick
WhatsApp Has Appointed Someone To Handle Complaints From Indian Users After It Was Blamed For Fueling Violence
Indian law requires tech companies operating in the country to have a grievance officer, but despite having more than 200 million users in India, WhatsApp only appointed one at the end of August.
Pranav Dixit
How WhatsApp Destroyed A Village
In July, residents of a rural Indian town saw rumors of child kidnappers on WhatsApp. Then they beat five strangers to death.
Pranav Dixit