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What the app? What will WhatsApp's pursuit of revenue mean for no-strings encryption

27th June 2025

It feels like WhatsApp is everywhere. Who isn’t familiar with the gentle ding as a message arrives - the relentless group chats, or the customer service bots? According to recent statistics, the service is used regularly by nearly 3 billion people around the world. Its core service - end-to-end encrypted messaging - is essential in today’s society.But private messaging services like WhatsApp are costly to run, and not something people are accustomed to paying for. Securing an income stream for…

We “value” your privacy – (now allow us to track you across the internet)

Content type: Long Read

I asked an online tracking company for all of my data and here's what I found

7th November 2018

It’s 15:10 pm on April 18, 2018. I’m in the Privacy International office, reading a news story on the use of facial recognition in Thailand. On April 20, at 21:10, I clicked on a CNN Money Exclusive on my phone. At 11:45 on May 11, 2018, I read a story on USA Today about Facebook knowing when teen users are feeling insecure. How do I know all of this? Because I asked an advertising company called Quantcast for all of the data they have about me. Most people will have never heard of…