New WhatsApp update branded DANGEROUS – but not everyone agrees

A MAJOR WhatsApp update has been slammed as dangerous by child safety experts.

The update lets all users set their WhatsApp to automatically delete texts after a day.

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Experts at the warn that it will let predators “rapidly delete evidence of child abuse”.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children branded it a “toxic cocktail of risk”.

WhatsApp announced and began rolling out the new feature yesterday.

The new update is aimed at boosting your privacy – by destroying old WhatsApp messages.

You can set Disappearing Messages to automatically turn on for all new chats – without affecting existing conversations.

And two new durations have been added for Disappearing Messages, 24 hours and 90 days.

So now you can choose from four options in total: 24 hours, 7 days, 90 days or Off.

“Deciding how long a message lasts should be in your hands,” said WhatsApp.

“We’ve become accustomed to leaving a digital copy of just about everything we type without even thinking about it.

“It’s become the equivalent of a note taker following us around making a permanent record of everything we’ve said.

“This is why we introduce disappearing messages last year, and more recently a way for photos and videos to immediately disappear after being viewed once.”

Enabling Disappearing Messages automatically works for all one-on-one chats.

And either party in the chat can choose the setting.

It won’t change or delete any of your existing chats, so don’t worry about losing old info.

A message will also be displayed warning people in the conversation that messages will be deleted.

This notification will reveal how long you have to read the texts before they vanish forever.

But the new feature has been criticised by child safety experts who warn it’ll make life easier for sexual predators.

In a statement given to The Sun, the NSPCC called for WhatsApp to be urgently investigated.

“Offenders groom children on open platforms like Instagram before moving them to WhatsApp for further abuse where there is less chance of detection,” said Andy Burrows, the NSPCC’s online child safety chief.

“This poorly thought out design decision will enable offenders to rapidly delete evidence of child abuse, making it even harder for law enforcement to charge them and protect children.

“Making these changes to WhatsApp in combination with end-to-end encryption is a toxic cocktail of risk that wouldn’t pass any regulatory assessment as will be required by the Online Safety Bill.

“Last week Meta claimed they were embedding child safety measures into end-to-end encryption plans but today’s announcement suggests this was just more smoke from their PR machine.

“Ofcom’s investigatory powers should be fast-tracked so the regulator can begin looking at the inner workings of Meta without delay.”

If you really want to keep something off the internet, consider not posting it – unless you’re messaging someone you absolutely trust.

Someone could still screenshot or copy your texts to keep a record of them.

In other news, Google Chrome users have been urged to delete their browser.

Facebook recently rebranded to Meta.

Check out the best iPhone 13 deals in October 2021.

And take a look at your hidden Facebook rejection folder.

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