WhatsApp help pages hid chatbot orders not to name regulators
Original title: WhatsApp Hid Instructions in Help Pages Telling Its AI Chatbot Not to Recommend Privacy Regulators
Redact counted 102 hidden blocks on 80 pages; Meta called it a bug and removed them by October 18.
WhatsApp help-page HTML contained unseen instructions for its support chatbot telling it not to recommend data protection authorities to users who could not delete accounts, and not to cite laws such as the GDPR once legal action was mentioned. Redact found the notes on October 8 and counted 102 hidden blocks across 80 of 545 help pages. WhatsApp told WIRED the text was a now-fixed bug and removed every block by October 18. Whether the chatbot followed the orders is unknown.
Unconfirmed: Whether the chatbot followed the hidden instructions is unknown; WhatsApp called their presence a bug.
- Archive copies lack the delete-account note on July 12 and include it on September 4.
- A second block barred citing GDPR, LGPD, or CCPA after legal threats.
- Europe's policy names the Irish Data Protection Commission for complaints.
- Checks of 300 Facebook and Instagram help pages found no similar notes.
- Vendors
- Meta
- Products
- Organizations
- RedactIrish Data Protection Commission
From the original article
5 min read at thehackernews.com
WhatsApp's help pages carried hidden instructions for its support chatbot that told it not to recommend a data protection authority or regulator to users who could no longer delete their accounts, even though WhatsApp's own privacy policy for Europe tells users they can complain to one. The text sat in the pages' code, never shown on screen, until it was removed by October 18. Whether the
thehackernews.com
A short excerpt; the article and its images belong to the publisher. Summary, key facts and assessment above are AI-written from the article and can be wrong.