Hacking. Disinformation. Surveillance. CYBER is Motherboard’s podcast and reporting on the dark underbelly of the internet.The Taliban have taken control of Afghanistan, entering Kabul as U.S. diplomats and allies flee the country. As it quickly took control of the county, the Taliban used Facebook-owned chat app WhatsApp to spread its message and gain favor among local citizens, according to news reports as well as Afghan citizens and observers on the ground.A WhatsApp spokesperson declined to answer a series of specific questions about WhatsApp’s role and response to the Taliban using its platform. The company spokesperson said that WhatsApp complies with U.S. sanctions law, so if it encounters any sanctioned people or organizations using the app, it will take action, including banning the accounts. This obviously depends on identifying who uses WhatsApp, without having access to any of the messages sent through the platform, given that the app uses end-to-end encryption. This would explain why WhatsApp hasn’t taken action against some account spreading the Taliban’s message in Afghanistan.“As a private messaging service, we do not have access to the contents of people’s personal chats however, if we become aware that a sanctioned individual or organization may have a presence on WhatsApp…
Read More
WhatsApp Says It's Not Banning the Taliban Because It Can't Read Their Texts
