Telegram founder Pavel Durov referred to WhatsApp as a "surveillance tool" and advised users to avoid the Meta-owned instant messaging app. Durov stated that WhatsApp has been putting user data at risk, referring to the security issue revealed by WhatsApp last month. He urged people to use a different instant messaging app other than WhatsApp. "Hackers could have full access to everything on WhatsApp users' phones," he said in a Telegram message. He also claimed that WhatsApp has been monitoring its users' data for the past 13 years. And that the security flaws discovered on WhatsApp are deliberately planted. He also claimed that "planted backdoors" allow governments, law enforcement, and hackers to circumvent encryption and other security measures.
Durov went on to say "Every year, we learn about some problem with WhatsApp that jeopardizes everything on their users' devices. It makes no difference if you are the richest person on the planet; if you have WhatsApp installed on your phone, you can access all your data from every app on your device." This is not the first time the Telegram founder has chastised WhatsApp for having security flaws. Previously, Durov stated that "WhatsApp will never be secure" unless the company makes fundamental changes. However, until then, he advised people to avoid using the app to protect their smartphones from being hacked. Durov explained Telegram's security and privacy features, saying, "I'm not urging people to use Telegram here Telegram does not require any additional promotion." He also stated that Telegram's instant messaging app prioritizes privacy. The app currently has over 700 million active users and is said to be growing at a rate of around 2 million daily users.
Concerning WhatsApp's security and privacy, the company claims that all texts, chats, and video calls are encrypted end-to-end. However, the app has frequently been plagued by bugs and security issues, raising concerns about its privacy. WhatsApp issued a notice last month about a bug that has since been fixed in newer versions of the app. The "critical" security flaw would have affected WhatsApp's Android app, allowing hackers to remotely send malware to a user's smartphone while they were on a video call.
Apple goes to great lengths to proclaim how safe and secure iMessage is, and thus wants to create a divide with green and blue bubbles. However, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg insists otherwise. According to a recent Instagram post. Zukerberg then boldly claims that Meta's WhatsApp is far more private and secure than iMessage. He does not leave it at that; he backs it up with logic. After Google's aggressive campaign to promote RCS adoption, Meta is the second company to criticize Apple's iMessage. WhatsApp is far more private and secure than iMessage, thanks to the end-to-end encryption that works on both iPhones and Android devices, including group chats. You can also set all-new chats to disappear with the tap of a button in Whatsapp. We also introduced end-to-end encrypted backups last year. "All of which iMessage still lacks," Zuckerberg wrote on Instagram.