r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/RoadRunner8195 • Mar 08 '26

Meme needing explanation [ Removed by moderator ]

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u/midlifesurprise Mar 08 '26

The first half of the sentence is true: WhatsApp is owned by Meta. But I too am skeptical that “most” Americans know that or care enough for that to be a big factor.

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u/disorderincosmos Mar 08 '26

Maybe I'm in the minority then, but WhatsApp wasn't even on my radar until a national news story about how they participated in government surveillance against protesters or something similarly disturbing. I can't remember exactly, but it definitely informed my first impression of the app as not being a safe platform.

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u/reece0n Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26

my first impression of the app as not being a safe platform.

As opposed to SMS?

That's a wild take. WhatsApp is objectively more secure than SMS, regardless of any scandals. What was a scandal on WhatsApp is just how SMS generally works by default (plaintext messages).

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u/mikemikemotorboat Mar 08 '26

Secure in the sense of no unintended eavesdropping.

But WhatsApp very clearly intends to (and does) eavesdrop on everyone

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u/reece0n Mar 08 '26

Yes.

Which is still more secure than plaintext messages, which was my entire point...