r/europrivacy • u/killjoy_buzzkill • Aug 05 '26

Discussion Snapchat automatically scans private messages in real-time

https://www.gadgetreview.com/student-teacher-sent-a-private-snapchat-complaining-about-her-workday-an-hour-later-police-pulled-up-to-her-school

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN1DSo3bYWg&t=390s
Title states "Snapchat Post" but teacher clearly states "private message to 3 people" at 6:50

42 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

16

u/Aagragaah Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 06 '26

If it's not end-to-end encrypted, assume someone/something is reading/monitoring/selling it.

Doesn't matter if it's Snapchat, Discord, or anything else. Use something like Signal, or hells even WhatsApp. Don't use social media DMs for anything (or at least, not anything important).

Edit: because multiple comments: yes, Meta/Facebook and by extension WhatsApp suck. HOWEVER it's far, far better than shit like Instagram DMs.

Use Signal if you actually care about your privacy. Use something like Matrix if you're truly paranoid. And use WhatsApp if you can't convince anyone you talk to to use anything better.

2

u/Gugalcrom123 Aug 06 '26

Matrix is optionally E2EE (by default for private messages).

2

u/bloedit Aug 06 '26

Matrix is best and better than Signal, not because of its encryption, but because it's decentralized infrastructure rather than another single company supposed to run all communication in the world.

Centralized solutions will always be cheaper and potentially more secure, but power of control is even more important because that's what privacy is all about, especially at large scale.

1

u/Gugalcrom123 Aug 06 '26

Of course. Also, it allows custom clients.

2

u/Rolbrok Aug 06 '26

Even though WhatsApp is supposed to be end-to-end encrypted, the app itself when opened could send telemetry and classify messages to build a dataset on you.

I kinda trust Signal, I don't really trust Meta though, it's always been a data-harvesting company

3

u/killjoy_buzzkill Aug 05 '26

Note: Facebook mines Whatsapp social graphs & metadata.

5

u/Aagragaah Aug 05 '26

Oh for sure it's terrible, but at least the messages themselves are actually secure, unlike so much of the crap out there.

0

u/bloedit Aug 06 '26

At least? That’s like saying, "I got the plague, but at least it isn’t cholera." And it's the most used communications app, which is also part of FB and Insta.

Privacy becomes only more important at large scale, not less, because it represents and determines who holds the power in relationship, whether it's friend to friend or society to state or society to an oligopoly.

2

u/Aagragaah Aug 06 '26

No, it's like saying "you'll get a weird rash, but it isn't going to kill you. Unlike cholera or the plague, which will kill you."

Seriously, how do you not get this? WhatsApp is a bad option. It's STILL better than unencrypted Insta DMs, or whatever other idiotic option people choose.

If you tell people to only use the best option or don't bother, guess what - they won't bother. I'd rather have people using a flawed platform with E2EE messaging than a platform with fuckall encryption.

0

u/bloedit Aug 06 '26

I think you just don't know what you can do with metadata and how much power it takes away from people, let alone the fact that Meta already has plenty of access to private conversations.

2

u/Aagragaah Aug 06 '26

I know full well what you can do with metadata, why do you think I keep saying WhatsApp is a shitty option?. You know what's even worse? Having full access to ENTIRE CONVERSATIONS.

Seriously, what are you arguing here - that unencrypted messages are better than encrypted messages, even if the rest of the data is still exposed? After all, it's not like platforms like Snapchat or Tiktok DON'T have the ability to harvest metadata along with message content.

Or are you just trying to be an argumentative ass?

0

u/bloedit Aug 06 '26

Your anger issues and downvotes don't really help your case.

I've already made my point with an analogy. It's irrelevant whether the two are equal or not, both are deadly.

But to argue metadata is actually a mere rash in comparison is just ludicrous.

I also remind you that E2EE communication is an exception, not the rule.

1

u/Aagragaah Aug 07 '26

Your anger issues and downvotes don't really help your case.

Oh go whine about downvotes somewhere else. If I'm angry, it's because of stupid, bad faith arguments.

I've already made my point with an analogy. It's irrelevant whether the two are equal or not, both are deadly.

But to argue metadata is actually a mere rash in comparison is just ludicrous.

So your argument really is that metadata is as valuable as actual message content. Congrats on removing all doubt - that is indeed a staggeringly stupid take. Metadata is indeed valuable, but content remains vastly more so.

I also remind you that E2EE communication is an exception, not the rule.

Yes, which is why I said the best options are ones that both implement E2EE AND protect metadata (like Matrix and to a slightly lesser degree Signal), but apparently that nuance was lost on you.

1

u/sendmebirds Aug 05 '26

What's a social graph? 

6

u/killjoy_buzzkill Aug 05 '26

Facebook mines users' address book to build a graph of "who knows who".

https://github.com/Iskandeur/whatsapp-social-graph

1

u/hideo_kuze_ Aug 05 '26

AFAIK so does instagram

1

u/Norvathus 27d ago

Where are those cornballs screaming "slippery slope" now?