The suspicion that some messaging applications are monitoring tools for the governments and secret services of different countries is not something new.
ΑThis time, however, things are slipping away from the realm of conspiracy theories, or at least that is what the US Secret Service wants us to believe.
According to The New York Times, the messaging application Totok, popular in the United Arab Emirates, is in fact a spy tool for tracking down citizens on behalf of their secret services. Other messaging services are not allowed everywhere in the UAE (e.g. WhatsApp, Viber), resulting in Totok be the basic choice for millions of users. However, the findings of the researchers show that it is clearly used to monitor all conversations, photos and videos exchanged, and of course the location of each user.
According to the security researcher, Mr. Patrick Wardle, this policy is significantly more successful and easier than hacking citizens' devices. Just persuade them to use an app and how much easier than an approved messaging app in countries where competing services are not completely free?
The reaction of Google and Apple to the post was immediate, as both withdrew the application Totok from their stores, while so far there is no official placement from the creators of the application.
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