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A WhatsApp chain letter on the subject of AI is currently unsettling millions of users.
blue News / imago / Bildmontage
An alarming message is currently circulating in WhatsApp groups: meta-AI will soon have access to private chats. However, fact-checkers and data protection experts are giving the all-clear. The central claim of the chain letter is false.
"From Saturday, AI will be available on WhatsApp and have access to all conversations." A chain letter with wording like this is currently spreading in numerous WhatsApp groups. The message urges users to immediately activate a privacy setting to protect their chats from Meta's artificial intelligence.
The warning sounds dramatic, but does not correspond to the facts.
Several fact checks, including those carried out by the research platform Mimikama, have come to the conclusion that the central claim of the chain letter is false. Private WhatsApp chats are still protected by end-to-end encryption and cannot be automatically read by Meta or an AI.
It is true that Meta is increasingly adding AI functions to Messenger. For example, users will be able to interact directly with the "Meta AI" function or get help formulating messages in the future.
This WhatsApp chain letter is currently doing the rounds.
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However, there is one important difference: the AI only processes content that is actively made available to it. This happens, for example, when users address the chatbot directly or deliberately share content with the AI.
Normal private chats remain unaffected.
The "Enhanced chat privacy" function mentioned in the chain letter is also causing confusion. This actually exists and was introduced by WhatsApp.
However, it is not intended to prevent alleged AI monitoring. Instead, it restricts various functions within a chat. For example, chat exports can be blocked, automatic media storage can be prevented or certain AI functions within a chat can be deactivated.
All users can activate the function themselves - not just group administrators, as claimed in the chain letter.
Experts see the success of such chain letters primarily in the fact that they are based on real concerns about artificial intelligence and data protection.
In fact, large technology companies collect a lot of usage data. However, this does not make the claim of automatic access to all WhatsApp messages any more correct.
Similar warnings were already circulating in the summer of 2025. Even then, fact-checkers and specialist media concluded that the alleged danger did not exist.
Data protection experts advise against forwarding the chain letter. Any forwarding only creates additional uncertainty.
If you wish, you can still activate the "Extended chat data protection". This function offers additional control over individual chats. However, it does not replace common sense.
Because even with the data protection settings activated, the following still applies: content that other chat participants can see can also be screenshotted or forwarded manually.
