WHILE an expectation of privacy is mostly wishful thinking on most social media platforms, people do expect a certain amount of it when using direct communication apps such as WhatsApp, especially when it comes to person-to-person chats.
Recently, a message has been circulating on social media that there is supposed to be a new communication rule by the "authorities" that they will record all calls and monitor all social media networks and forums, including the aforementioned WhatsApp.
Is this true?
Verdict:
FALSE
No, Big Brother is not watching you. The Government, police and MCMC has categorically denied that any such surveillance "rule" is true.
This viral message has actually been circulating online for several years and the government - through the police and the Home Ministry - has commented on how untrue it is several times, once in 2015, in 2017 as well as 2019 and now.
In fact, the fake message seems to be circulating in several countries aside from Malaysia such as Ghana, the UAE, India and even Singapore.
While the content might vary somewhat between countries, the gist is the same.
It starts off with a message saying that there is a new communication rule for WhatsApp and WhatsApp calls that will be starting very soon. Usually "tomorrow".
These new rules will allow the authorities to record and save all calls on WhatsApp as well as monitor all communications on other social media platforms such as Facebook, Telegram and Twitter.
The message then goes on to say that you will be able to know if the authorities are monitoring your communications on WhatsApp by the number of ticks (✓) your post has.
One tick means the message has been sent, two that it has been received and three if the government has taken note of it.
Logically, this method of surveillance doesn't make sense; if the government really wanted to spy on you, why would they tell you that they are doing so?
References:
1. https://sebenarnya.my/
2. https://theindependent.sg/
3. https://www.ibtimes.co.in/
4. https://check4spam.com/
