Telegram founder calls WhatsApp a “surveillance software” with “planted backdoors”
Pavel Durov warns, “steer clear of WhatsApp”
By Abiel John
Telegram founder calls WhatsApp a surveillance software with planted backdoors
A scorching potato: With over 2 billion month-to-month energetic customers globally, WhatsApp is the world’s hottest cell messaging app. However the founding father of rival service Telegram thinks folks ought to steer clear of Meta’s product, which he calls a surveillance software always plagued with safety points.
On Thursday, Pavel Durov wrote in his Telegram channel that folks ought to use any messaging app they like, “however do steer clear of WhatsApp – it has now been a surveillance software for 13 years.”
Durov was referencing two safety points found in WhatsApp that might permit distant code execution on particular gadgets. Hackers simply wanted to determine a video name or ship them a specifically crafted video file. WhatsApp has since launched safety updates to handle the vulnerabilities.
The Russian nationwide, who now lives in self-imposed exile, famous that even upgrading WhatsApp to the newest model would not assure you will be safe. He identified that safety points equivalent to these lately patched had been found in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. He additionally notes that WhatsApp did not have end-to-end encryption earlier than 2016.
Telegram or WhatsApp, which do you favor?
“Hackers may have full entry (!) to all the things on the telephones of WhatsApp customers,” Durov wrote. “Yearly we find out about some concern in WhatsApp that places all the stuff on their customers‘ gadgets in danger.”
Durov says these safety points aren’t incidental however “planted backdoors,” with a brand new backdoor added each time a earlier one is found and eliminated. “It would not matter in case you are the richest person on Earth – when you have WhatsApp put in in your cellphone, all of your information from each app in your gadget is accessible.”
That “richest particular person on Earth” line references the previous world’s wealthiest person, Jeff Bezos. The Amazon founder’s cellphone was hacked in 2018 by way of a WhatsApp video message allegedly despatched from the account of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
It is simple to think about Durov disparaging WhatsApp to draw extra customers to his platform. However the CEO notes that Telegram’s 700 million energetic customers and a couple of million each day signups imply the privacy-focused service would not want any extra promotional.
When requested about Durov’s claims, a Meta spokesperson informed The Unbiased, “That is full garbage.”
Meta is not the primary tech large to face criticism from Durov. He went after Apple in 2021 for promoting “overpriced, out of date {hardware}” from the “Middle Ages.” lately, he stated Cupertino “deliberately cripples” net apps by not updating WebKit.
Along with the safety vulnerabilities, WhatsApp has confronted loads of claims that it violates customers‘ privateness, together with the controversial Fb data-sharing coverage. It was additionally hit with a final $267 million 12 months ago for GDPR violations.