A Facebook post, which urges social media users to switch on the option of 'Advanced Chat Privacy' for individual and group chats on WhatsApp, is being circulated on the internet.
What's the claim?: The user insinuated that if the option is not switched on, the chats will be vulnerable to Meta AI and other cybersecurity challenges.
It further claimed that all AI agents can access all individual and group chats.
What's the problem with the claim?: As per the information available in the public domain, Meta can only read messages that people explicitly share with it or mention @Meta AI.
This simply means that Meta can't read the entire individual or group chats. This makes the claim misleading.
How did we find that out?: We conducted a keyword search with the words "meta ai whatsapp" on Google and found an article shared on the 'FAQ' section of the WhatsApp Help Center.
It said that Meta can only read messages that mention @Meta AI or those that are explicitly shared with it. No other messages would be accessed.
The website mentioned that all calls and messages are end-to-end encrypted and no other party could read, listen, or share them.
It should be noted that Meta AI is an optional service that is offered by the tech company.
What about the Advanced Chat Privacy option?: The feature was launched in April of this year, which helps users to prevent others from exporting chats, using messages for AI features, and auto-downloading media to their devices.
This option can be switched on for both individual and group chats.
Conclusion: It is evident that the viral claim about chats being vulnerable to Meta AI is misleading.
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