Links to some private WhatsApp groups are appearing on Google. This means that anyone could join them and even see information about the members of the group. This is not the first time this has happened, a similar security flaw has happened in 2019, and Facebook, the owner of the messaging app, claimed to have already fixed the flaw.
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Links to some private WhatsApp groups are appearing on Google searches
Another security flaw is that user profiles with all the information (name, telephone number and others) are appearing in the search engine results. WhatsApp informed the technology community that the error was being investigated; it also highlighted that since 2019 the ‘noidex’ tag was included to prevent this from happening.
They also pointed out that one of the reasons why these links could appear is because they are shared outside the application and are indexed by Google. Blaming the failure on the users. “Links should only be shared between people and not on websites if users want them to be private,” the company said.
WhatsApp’s security flaw occurs amidst public scrutiny for updating its privacy policies and terms. Users who do not wish to accept it will not be able to continue using the application.