Does user privacy when using WhatsApp Web (https://web.whatsapp.com) differ substantially from using WhatsApp on Android? WhatsApp on Android has end-to-end encryption and (optional) encrypted backups. If I use WhatsApp Web, will Meta be able to see the contents of my WhatsApp messages?
As others have said both options are inferior to Signal because you can’t verify the privacy claims Meta makes.
However I’d argue that WhatsApp Web is slightly better, because it being a web app means Meta can collect less data about you compared to a phone app.
for anyone not aware, if you’re using the web based version of anything on a corporate/company device, assume all traffic can be intercepted by your admins. it’s very easy to do and considered a requirement on some fields.
Meta still controls all the code running in the web app. They may be scraping your messages just like they have the option on Android.
It can still be end to end encrypted with them sending themselves a copy from the unencrypted text boxes you see
He refers to the fact that the web app does not have default access to your device sensors, microphone, storage, etc.