WhatsApp Can Become A Big Source Of Spam & Scams: Here’s Why?

WhatsApp is all set to bring a massive update for its users. The messaging giant is trying its best to comply with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). However, the platform is expected to be at a higher risk of scams and spam once the new law that allows third-party messaging comes into effect. All WhatsApp users will soon see a new inbox option lighting their app sometime in March. This chatbox will appear for the users who will enable cross-messaging. It will contain all the messages received or sent to the third-party apps. The beta version of WhatsApp that allows for third-party chats warns users that Spam and scams may be more common on third-party chats.

WhatsApp Users Warned Of Increased Risk To Spams

DMA contains a raft of new laws that tech companies will have to obey to continue operating in the bloc. One of these new laws signifies tech apps are not allowed to be ‘gatekeeper services’. They need to be interoperable with other messaging apps under the new rules. It applies to all messenger apps, including iMessage, Telegram, Google Messages, WhatsApp and Signal.

Dick Brouwer, engineering director at WhatsApp, stated in an interview:

“There’s a real tension between offering an easy way to offer this interoperability to third parties whilst at the same time preserving the WhatsApp privacy, security, and integrity bar”

However, he also advised to take the decision wisely. It depends on you whether you choose to participate in exchanging messages with third parties or not. It is quite significant as the platform could turn out to be a big source of spam and scams. All third-party chats seem to be less secure than chats held exclusively inside WhatsApp by all parties. When testing third-party messaging for the first time, users will see a welcome screen with a warning! It says:

“The feature allows you to message “someone outside of WhatsApp” and that “third-party apps may use different end-to-end encryption. Third-party apps have their own policies. They may handle your data differently than WhatsApp does.”

The good part is that this is an opt-in feature. Just don’t use it if you don’t want to. You will need to manually select the third-party feature in your settings. So, don’t worry it won’t catch you by surprise.