Telegram founder says WhatsApp is a surveillance tool and users should stop using it  


WhatsApp recently revealed “critical” rated security vulnerability affecting its Android app. Telegram founder Pavel Durov takes a dig at WhatsApp and asks users to stay away from the app.  

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Telegram founder Pavel Durov warns people about WhatsApp security threats. 
  • Telegram’s founder claims that WhatsApp will never be secure for users.  
  • WhatsApp has fixed the ‘critical’ security bug that puts Android phones at risk.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov called WhatsApp a “surveillance tool” and urged users to stay away from the Meta-owned instant messaging app. Highlighting the security issue disclosed by WhatsApp last month, Durov said that WhatsApp has been putting user data at risk. He urged people to use any other instant messaging app except WhatsApp.

“Hackers could have full access to everything on the phones of WhatsApp users,” he said in his Telegram message. He also claimed that WhatsApp has been keeping the users’ data under surveillance for the past 13 years. And that the security issues found on WhatsApp are actually intentionally planted. He also said that the “planted backdoors” enable governments, law enforcement, and hackers to get around encryption and other security measures.

Durov further said that “Every year we learn about some issue in WhatsApp that puts everything on their users’ devices at risk… It doesn’t matter if you are the richest person on Earth – if you have WhatsApp installed on your phone, all your data from every app on your device is accessible.”

This is not the first time that Telegram founder has dragged WhatsApp for being prone to security issues. Earlier, Durov said that “WhatsApp will never be secure” unless the company makes some fundamental changes to it. But till then he advised people to stay away from the app to save their smartphones from being hacked.

Explaining the security and privacy features provided by Telegram, Durov said, “I’m not pushing people to switch to Telegram here… Telegram doesn’t need additional promotion.” He also said that Telegram follows the privacy-first approach to its instant messaging app. The app currently has more than 700 million active users and is reportedly recording steady growth with around 2…

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