How are Bollywood chats leaking? WhatsApp says no role to play in it

Over the last few weeks, something that is making frequent headlines are the chats by Bollywood celebrities that have been accessed by the Narcotics Control Bureau and others, which have helped authorities track a drugs angle in the Sushant Singh Rajput case. This has led to several questions around privacy and security of your WhatsApp chats. So, how are these chats leaking? How many people have access to your chats? 

The instant messaging platform has now come up with an explanation, saying that all the chats have end-to-end encryption and even the company can’t access them.  

"WhatsApp protects your messages with end-to-end encryption so that only you and the person you're communicating with can read what is sent, and nobody in between can access it, not even WhatsApp. It's important to remember that people sign up on WhatsApp using only a phone number, and WhatsApp doesn't have access to your message content,” an official WhatsApp spokesperson said.  

The statement further added that Facebook-owned platform follows guidance provided by operating system manufacturers for on-device storage and we encourage people to take advantage of all the security features provided by operating systems such as strong passwords or biometric IDs to prevent third parties from accessing content stored on the device. 

Now, this doesn’t mean that none of your content can be shared with authorities. WhatsApp, in one of its blog states that it discloses account records with authorities “solely in accordance with our terms of service and applicable law.”  

“Additionally, we will assess whether requests are consistent with internationally recognized standards including human rights, due process, and the rule of law. A Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty request or letter rogatory may be required to compel the disclosure of the contents of an account,” the WhatsApp blog says.  

However, requests submitted by non-law enforcement officials are not reviewed. This means that no news channel can write to WhatsApp and access the chats of users.