WhatsApp boss in online spat with Elon Musk

The CEO of WhatsApp, Will Cathcart, has responded to allegations made by Elon Musk regarding the messaging app's data export practices. Cathcart refuted Musk's claims, emphasizing that WhatsApp messages are end-to-end encrypted, ensuring that the company cannot access them. Yann LeCun, the artificial intelligence chief at Meta, also criticized Musk's claims using more industrial language in his post on X. LeCun further criticized Musk on another Meta platform, Threads, accusing him of making contradictory and unrealistic claims about artificial intelligence and spreading conspiracy theories on his social media platform. Musk is known for engaging in online disputes, and Cathcart's assertion that only the sender and recipient of a WhatsApp message can read its contents is accurate. WhatsApp has a strong commitment to encrypting messages and has previously stated that it would rather cease operations than compromise its encryption. Musk's vague language could be interpreted as referring to metadata, the additional information sent alongside the actual message. While WhatsApp shares some metadata with other Meta platforms, it does not include messages. Dr. Tristan Henderson, a lecturer in computer science at the University of St Andrews, expressed concern about WhatsApp sharing data with other Meta companies, as it includes sufficient metadata for these companies to make suggestions and display personalized advertisements, revealing the potential of metadata. The WhatsApp Privacy Policy explicitly states that the firm will utilize some user data to display relevant offers and advertisements across the Meta Company Products. The BBC has reached out to Meta for a response.