WhatsApp users have been cautioned that modifications to the extremely popular messaging app may raise the danger of frauds and spam.
Last month, Meta announced that its messaging service would soon accept third-party communications.
This means that a WhatsApp user can communicate someone using Facebook Messenger or Google Messages, and vice versa.
The shakeup is the result of new legislation enacted by the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which requires all messaging providers to allow third-party messaging.
The new rules will also apply to all messaging apps, including iMessage, Telegram and Signal.
WABetaInfo – a website all about WhatsApp beta, which allows users to test new unreleased features – has warned users that ‘spam and scams may be more common on third-party chats’.
Dick Brouwer, engineering director at WhatsApp, also spoke of these risks in an interview with Wired last month.
‘There’s 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,’ he said.
However, users will have to opt in to make their messaging service interoperable, which means they can protect themselves against risk keeping their setting the same.
Mr Brower said: ‘I can choose whether or not I want to participate in being open to exchanging messages with third parties.
‘This is important, because it could be a big source of spam and scams.’
DMA is bringing in the new laws because Meta – which also owns Facebook and Instagram – is considered a ‘digital gatekeeper’ and the body wants to promote competition between the different digital services.
WhatsApp users who opt-in to third party messaging will see a separate ‘third-party chats’ inbox at the top of their Chats menu where messages from other apps will appear.
Mr Brouwer said the separate inbox is due to WhatsApp not being able to promise the same level of security and privacy its internal messaging service offers.
