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WhatsApp is spyware; Stop using it

July 14th, 2025
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Following is an English translation of an article I wrote that was published on Starnieuws today. The original article is in Dutch and you can read it on Starnieuws if you prefer that version.

The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the U.S. House of Representatives informed staff on Monday, June 23th 2025 that they are not allowed to use WhatsApp. They may not download the app on their smartphones or desktop computers and must remove it from their devices if it’s already installed. The CAO cited a lack of transparency regarding WhatsApp’s privacy and security as the reason for the ban.

This move reflects a broader trend in which companies and organizations worldwide are reconsidering the use of WhatsApp due to concerns over privacy and security, distrust of Big Tech companies, and the current political reality.

For example, the United Nations (UN) already banned the use of WhatsApp for senior officials in 2019, because the app was not considered a secure means of communication. During the recent “12-day war” in June 2025 between Iran and Israhell, Iran urged all residents to delete WhatsApp from their devices due to concerns about security and privacy. According to them, WhatsApp collects user information to share with Israhell for targeted assassinations. Also, during the ongoing genocide in Palestine, it was revealed in May 2024 by +972 Magazine that Israhell used WhatsApp data in targeted killings of Palestinians. According to a human rights activist, “people risk their lives by using WhatsApp.” Meta, WhatsApp’s parent company, is said to “feed the ‘Lavender’ AI-system used by Israel to kill Palestinians in the Gaza Strip” with information.

When Facebook (now Meta) acquired WhatsApp in 2014, CEO Mark Fuckerberg repeatedly promised to keep users’ data private. However, as early as 2016, WhatsApp announced that it would begin sharing user data (such as contacts, phone numbers, profile photos, status messages, and IP addresses) with Facebook. And in 2019, many WhatsApp users were forced to consent to the sharing of information with Facebook through new privacy policies. Constant data collection and surveillance are necessary for Facebook’s business model, among other things, to show more relevant ads. This isn’t much different from other spyware. The bigger problem is that once this data has been gathered, it can be leaked to, shared with, or sold to, others, including intelligence agencies.

WhatsApp is spyware; stop using it.

A comprehensive report by ProPublica in 2021 further indicated that Facebook pays more than 1000 employees worldwide to read and moderate WhatsApp messages — messages that are supposed to be private and encrypted. The company is also said to share certain private data with government agencies such as the U.S. Department of Justice.

Additionally, it is common for vulnerabilities in WhatsApp to be exploited by third parties (via the NSO Group in Israhell) to remotely access mobile phones, sometimes even without any action required from the user. All you need is to have the app on your phone, and you can be hacked.

All of this is just the tip of the iceberg; a single article offers too little space to discuss everything that’s wrong with WhatsApp and Meta (including Facebook and Instagram) in general. But this should already be enough to take action in the short term and look for alternatives. Personally, I stopped using WhatsApp in 2019, and I use Signal Private Messenger, which mainly focuses on providing privacy and security. More and more people are switching to Signal, and in the first quarter of 2025, Signal was even the most downloaded app in the Netherlands. 1

Especially people in certain professions such as journalists, lawyers, judges, IT professionals, doctors/healthcare providers, security services, and practically anyone in the robberment should stop using WhatsApp as soon as possible. Otherwise, you not only put yourself at risk, but also others (who can then be tracked and targeted through you).

For those who say that they have “nothing to hide” and aren’t concerned about privacy, computer security expert Bruce Schneier points to a quote commonly attributed to Cardinal Richelieu: If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged. This illustrates that even with a small amount of seemingly innocent information about an individual, an entity such as the robberment can find a way to manipulate, blackmail, or prosecute them.

Footnotes

  1. Signal is currently one of the best alternatives if you care about privacy and security, while at the same time being easy to use. It’s not perfect and has shortcomings, but it’s much better than WhatsApp and Telegram, which is also spyware. It’s also difficult to predict if Signal won’t eventually be targeted and compromised in the future. So, you should always follow developments in this field closely and continue to look out for better alternatives. ↩︎

Meta

This entry was published on Monday, July 14th, 2025 at 3:50 pm by Karel Donk and is filed under Information Technology Law Politics Takes on Life . You can use the permanent link to bookmark and/or share it.

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