Meta Platforms spent the weekend battling a wave of misinformation after a viral video claimed that Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp would soon start scanning private chats to enhance their smart features. Millions of users watched the video and reacted with anger, but Meta says the rumor is completely untrue.
This confusion arose after Meta announced a privacy policy update scheduled for December 16, 2025. The update only explains how the company will use conversations people have specifically with Meta’s built-in chatbot to personalize what they see on their feeds — like suggesting reels or posts related to what they ask the assistant.
Meta made its stance clear, says:
“This update has nothing to do with private chats between friends and family. We do not read or use those for any kind of training. The only messages we can access are the ones where someone chooses to interact with our digital assistant, and this is not a new rule.”
The viral video twisted parts of Meta’s official statement and ignored the fact that Messenger and WhatsApp one-on-one chats are protected with end-to-end encryption. That means no one — not even Meta — can read them.
Social Media Today editor Andrew Hutchinson criticized the rumor, calling it “pure fear-mongering” and warning that spreading fake information only makes people more confused and distrustful.
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Of course, Meta’s past privacy issues — including the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018 and big EU fines in recent years — make users more anxious about any policy change. And earlier changes to WhatsApp’s data-sharing rules also sparked unnecessary panic.
Still, Meta says nothing is changing when it comes to your private messages. If you are in a personal or group chat and you choose to use the built-in chatbot — for example, asking for movie suggestions — only that part of the conversation could help improve the assistant in the future.
Otherwise, your messages remain locked, private, and unseen.
Meta also encourages users to double-check their privacy settings and avoid using the chatbot in conversations that contain sensitive details. The company repeated on November 30 that there is no scanning of personal chats and asked people to stop sharing misleading content.
With the policy update just around the corner, the rumors are likely to continue — but for now, you can relax:
Your DMs are still your DMs. Only if you invite the assistant into the chat will anything be used from it.
