As social media posts go, this one probably needed a couple more reviews. WhatsApp’s latest jovial message on X has backfired horribly, with users alarmed the Meta platform has suddenly admitted it’s reading their end-to-end encrypted content after all.
The message was simple: “people who end messages with ‘lol’ we see you, we honor you,” the platform posted on X, quickly collecting more than 5 million views.
But it turns out “we see you” is not a clever message when your platform is built on assuring 3 billion users that you don’t see them at all. “What about end-to-end encryption,” multiple users quickly responded with alarm.
“We meant ‘we see you’ figuratively lol (see what we did there?),” WhatsApp responded. “Your personal messages are protected by end-to-end encryption and no one, not even WhatsApp, can see them.” See them or not see them, you can appreciate the issue.
And then to suggestions this means there’s no privacy and questions about its encryption, WhatsApp assured “your personal messages are private between you and the recipient. ‘We see you’ in our original post was meant as a way to say we relate to and understand people who love to use lol as a way to end a message.”
There’s an irony here, of course. All this took place on Elon Musk’s platform. The X supremo has gone head-to-head with WhatsApp on the platform before, around the sanctity of users and their messages. I would not be surprised to see him wade in later.
Lesson learned. We see you is not a smart message when we don’t see you is the entire point of your platform. WhatsApp’s 3 billion users can relax. Encryption remains intact and has not changed. This was a misplaced marketing message not an admission of snooping after years assuring otherwise. But wryly amusing, nonetheless. Lol.