‘Cheating has been upgraded,’ declared one user commenting on Mark Zuckerberg’s social media post announcing a new WhatsApp feature.
This week’s new ‘Chat Lock‘ feature promises to protect users’ ‘most intimate conversations behind one more layer of security’.
Users were quick to tear into the feature for seemingly making it easier for unfaithful partners to carry on their secret affairs.
‘It’s like WhatsApp was made for cheating men? Disappearing chats? Screenshot blocker and now this??’ lamented another user on Twitter.
All of the features mentioned are part of the platform’s recently launched security updates.
While we’re quick to blame the tech for enabling infidelity, we’re forgetting that digital privacy is the bigger issue here.
If people want to cheat, there was always a whole range of private messaging apps on offer that are arguably ahead of WhatsApp on privacy.
WhatsApp might be the world’s biggest messaging platform, but privacy-first messaging apps like Telegram and Signal are not far behind.
With 500million active users on Telegram and 40million active users on Signal, the demand for private conversations is only increasing.
In 2022, billionaire Elon Musk tweeted ‘Use Signal’, boosting its numbers. Since then, it has been downloaded more than 105million times.
The popularity of these apps is a sign that people are becoming more concerned about their privacy. However, the bedrock of privacy features is end-to-end encryption, which Signal and Telegram have by default.
It means messages can only be read on the sender and recipient’s app, and nowhere else.
Only in 2016 did WhatsApp make end-to-end encryption the default for its billion plus users, making it the world’s largest encrypted messenger.
This is the feature that’s making its presence in the UK a question with the government’s looming Online Safety Bill (OSB).
WhatsApp, Signal and other messaging services are worried that the Bill could undermine end-to-end encryption, resulting in an ‘unprecedented threat to safety and security’ of UK citizens.
The fact that the biggest messaging platform in the world is pushing for further security features signals that digital privacy is not something we can take for granted.
Still, Chat Lock is a welcome feature with several innocent applications. For example, I know I’ll feel much better about showing my mother a picture on my phone knowing a risky text won’t pop up.
Infidelity in relationships has been around since before technology, and while people have got creative with it to hide their indiscretions, it’s far from an active enabler.
Meanwhile, Zuckerberg can rest on his laurels from the ‘cheating partners association’ for his ‘great work’.
MORE : How to use WhatsApp’s new locked chats feature Chat Lock
MORE : WhatsApp will now let you lock and hide ‘intimate conversations’
