WhatsApp May Not Be Safe, TikTok's New Owners, France and UK Ban Minors From Online Services, and more!

Our top stories this week:

A new lawsuit alleges WhatsApp has no end-to-end encryption
France has voted to ban social media for minors
UK has voted to ban VPNs for minors
Britain will increase use of AI and facial recognition
TikTok is now under US ownership for Americans. What does this mean?

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Updates from the Team

News Updates

This week saw a number of news updates published about Google, India, AluminiumOS leaks, 1Password, Windows Updates breaking boots, and much more. It was a busy week. Go check it out and sign up so you never miss a headline.

Sources

Lawsuit Alleges That WhatsApp Has No End-to-End Encryption

A new lawsuit cites "courageous whistleblowers" who claim that WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption is a mirage. They allege that employees of both WhatsApp and Meta can simply request access to messages by opening a ticket with a Meta engineer and explain why they want access. Allegedly engineers rarely push back on such requests, granting access to any message from a particular user. The suit alleges that this includes messages the users deleted and that the tool works in near-realtime.

The lower national assembly passed the law by a vote of 130-21. It will now go to the upper house, where (if it passes) it will almost certainly become law since Macron has expressed public support for it. The bill also includes a ban on mobile phones in high schools. It would likely come into effect at the start of the 2026 school year, September 1st. Social media platforms would also have to deactivate underage accounts by the end of the year. The article notes that "an effective age verification system" is still in the works.

UK Lords vote to ban VPNs for children as pressure on the privacy tools increases

The House of Lords passed several amendments to the "Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill." These included - among other things - banning children from using VPNs, specifically to avoid the Online Safety Act's impacts. It passed 207-159. The bill now returns to the House of Commons. The article says that it's unclear if the bill will face challenges or support. A social media ban for children under 16 also passed 261-150 and will go to the House of Commons.

AI and facial recognition to be rolled out as Britain’s ‘broken’ policing system faces sweeping reforms

The home secretary is investing £140 million in a bid to free up as much as 6 million police hours per year, or the equivalent of 3,000 officers. AI will be deployed to quickly analyze footage from CCTV, doorbell, and phone footage, as well as detect deepfakes, work with digital forensics, and handle out administrative paperwork tasks like filing, transcription, and redaction. They will also increase the number of facial recognition vans from 10 to 50. There are also some organizational changes as part of the "modernization" efforts. One critic suggested that these reforms may be in response to falling hiring numbers for officers.

TikTok is Now American-Owned for Americans

Last week, the TikTok sale to (mostly) American owners went through. The changes were basically immediate. Among certainly many other changes, TikTok now tracks precise location and AI interactions, has expanded its ad network, and debatably may have expanded to include immigration status (though TechCrunch argues that this was always the case, just less explicitly stated). Canada has begun seeking answers on how this sale will impact Canadian users.

Forum Updates

Show Hosts

Nate is a member of Privacy Guides' video and news team. He has been advocating for privacy on his own website The New Oil since 2018, and is the former host of Surveillance Report, a popular cybersecurity podcast he published with Techlore.

Jonah is Privacy Guides' editor and Program Director. With over a decade of technical writing experience, his role includes researching and writing for Privacy Guides. He also runs Triplebit, a non-profit ISP behind many privacy-related tools.