Fact Check: Viral Claim That AI Agents Can Access WhatsApp Chats Without Advanced Privacy Setting Is Misleading

The viral message goes as “Attention : URGENT :- GROUP ADMINISTRATORS- Please Switch ON the option of Advanced Chat Privacy in ALL your personal WhatsApp chat groups. You will find it under View Contact. WhatsApp group chat will be vulnerable to AI cybersecurity challenges Therefore, each WhatsApp group administrator should switch on Advance Chat Privacy feature Otherwise, all AI agents can legally access into all the group chat members’ messages as well as individual chats /contacts.”

Here is the screenshot of the claim.

The claim is misleading. AI agents cannot access the messages in the WhatsApp groups or individual chats.

Meta AI is an optional, AI-powered assistant within WhatsApp that allows users to interact with the AI. It can answer questions, generate images, and even help with creative tasks based on the user’s prompts. It can be accessed through a dedicated chat interface and can be used in both individual and group chats. The FAQ page on WhatsApp Help Center states that “When you choose to use these features, Meta receives your prompts, the messages you share, and feedback to deliver relevant responses directly to you. Only messages that mention @Meta AI, or that people choose to share with Meta AI, can be read by Meta. Meta can’t read any other messages in your personal chats. When you share your personal messages for AI features that use Private Processing technology, Meta can’t read or access the messages you’ve shared.”

According to the help page on ‘Advanced Chat Privacy’ of WhatsApp, when the setting is on, users can block others from exporting chats, auto-downloading media to the phone, and using messages for AI features. But it does not mention anything about protecting from ‘AI agents’ on the help page.

The FAQ page of WhatsApp also states that “WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption is used when you chat with another person using WhatsApp Messenger. End-to-end encryption keeps your personal messages and calls between you and the person you’re communicating with. No one outside of the chat, not even WhatsApp, can read, listen to, or share them. This is because with end-to-end encryption, your messages are secured with a lock, and only the recipient and you have the special key needed to unlock and read them. All of this happens automatically: no need to turn on any special settings to secure your messages.”

Hence, the viral message claiming that turning on Advanced Privacy settings on WhatsApp will prevent AI agents like Meta AI from reading the messages in the groups and individual chats is misleading.