WhatsApp Head Goes After Telecom Companies, Says Sending 'SMS Message Is Not A Small Risk'

Meta Platform Inc.'s META WhatsApp head Will Cathcart targeted telecom companies through a series of tweets on Friday.

What Happened: Cathcart drew comparisons between WhatsApp and SMS. He said, unlike SMS, “messages sent on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted to prevent any third party” from accessing users’ private conversations.

He then took on SMS, saying that they are "still not end-to-end encrypted."

SMS messages are still not end-to-end encrypted. That means sending an SMS is just like an open piece of mail – you can't tell if it's been read en route. And sometimes, they take a long road to get where you want them to go. Remember this? https://t.co/PiJvCVgb4B

— Will Cathcart (@wcathcart) October 13, 2022

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Cathcart said 5.5 billion SMS are sent in the U.S. daily. These messages, which go through a global patchwork of unreliable technology, may contain important information.

Sending an open text message via SMS is not a small risk. By their own admission, telecom companies maintain access to SMS messages and can provide them to third parties.

— Will Cathcart (@wcathcart) October 13, 2022

Telegram founder Pavel Durov attacked WhatsApp a few days ago on security grounds, saying WhatsApp "has now been a surveillance tool for 13 years."

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