Two questions.
My family insist on using Whatsapp for the family chats. I have to keep a copy on a device just so I can communicate with them. I do so under protest, as I was always told it isn't secure. My brother has just said
"oh Whatsapp is encrypted, it's perfectly secure".
First, is it actually as encrypted and safe as my brother claims? That would solve everything.
Second, if it isn't, where can I get some proof that we should switch to Telegram or whatever? Proof which doesn't make me look like a raving loony?
Does it though when they control both ends. It is encrypted between each end which I guess secures against things like a man in the middle attack from outside parties but their app encrypts it on one end and decrypts it on the other. I have a very hard time believing that they don't "read" your messages at some point in that process.
Which, given the history of Facebook, is a healthy sort of skepticism to have. I'm not technically competent enough to debug a closed source application or look into its encrypted HTTPS connections, although perhaps someone else could.