Has WhatsApp launched a secret update to privacy settings? Users fear for their security

It has been speculated that WhatsApp has released a secret update that urges users to check their privacy settings. The messaging platform has faced several backlashes in recent years due to its negligence towards user security. The seemingly new WhatsApp update targets group settings to include “everyone” by default, meaning people you don’t know can also add you to a group without your knowing. Learn more about this WhatsApp update.

WhatsApp update threatens privacy, faces backlash

The secret update was first notified by Twitter user Mobberley NW who dedicated a thread on how to change the default WhatsApp settings. In his tweet, he mentioned how this update can promote scam messages and loan sharks and threaten WhatsApp security. Forbes, however, stated that this update has been sitting around on the platform as early as 2019. In a statement to Forbes, WhatsApp, too, confirmed that the "dangerous" setting update was two years overdue.

"I have checked WhatsApp on an iPhone and Android device, both with the latest update, and there was no forced change to this setting. But, while this alert is likely misleading, you should change that setting. This is just one of the critical privacy and settings you should change in WhatsApp," surveillance and cybersecurity expert Zak Doffman wrote for the publication. Here's how you change your WhatsApp settings - 

• Enter the WhatsApp application and open the 'slide-down menu' with three vertical dots in the upper right corner.
• Go to Settings>Account>Privacy
• A clickable link called 'Groups' will be present on the privacy page. You will see that indeed 'Everyone' can add you to groups as the platform has that check-marked by default.
• Change settings to 'My contacts' or 'My contacts, except' and click on done.

In other news, WhatsApp moved to the Delhi High Court challenging the Centre's recent rules for social media intermediaries that call for the traceability of messages. The Facebook-owned messaging platform reportedly filed the petition on May 25, which was the last day to comply with the guidelines. Invoking the Supreme Court's verdict in the 2017 Justice K S Puttaswamy (Retd.) vs Union Of India case, it has argued that the traceability provision is against the fundamental right to privacy. 

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