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TikTok is entertaining, addictive, and full of hidden features that can make the experience way more enjoyable—not to mention safer. Because for all its charms, TikTok is something of a privacy nightmare. The app's ownership recently shifted from Chinese company ByteDance to the TikTok USDS Joint Venture, a new entity backed by Oracle's Larry Ellison, private equity firm Silver Lake, and UAE-based investment firm MGX, a change that raised plenty of eyebrows when it was announced in January 2026, and may have you thinking twice about how it's using your data.

When it comes to hacking your TikTok feed, you probably already know the surface-level tricks: adding automatic captions, holding down to play at 2x speed, or tapping "Not interested" to nudge the algorithm. Let's go deeper, with 10 TikTok hacks you might not know about.

There's a way to view your TikTok watch history

Finding a TikTok via the search bar is famously painful. If you didn't like or save the video, you can consider it gone forever...unless you use this little-known trick to actually see your own watch history. Go to the search bar on your For You feed, type a single period (.) and hit search. You'll see an option to “view your watch history.” From here, you can even filter by date, if you remember roughly when you watched the video you're looking for. This is huge.

How to view your TikTok watch history.
Credit: Meredith Dietz

Long-press the share button to quickly send a TikTok to your top friends

Instead of going through the full share menu, you can simply press and hold the share (arrow) button while watching a video. Your top four contacts will appear instantly, letting you send with one tap. Note: TikTok's idea of who makes it into your "top four" may surprise you, and it's not entirely transparent about how it determines who counts as one of your closest connections.

Enable clear mode in TikTok for a cleaner watch experience

To strip away the like buttons, comment icons, and other UI clutter from a video, long-press on the screen while watching and select Clear Display. Alternatively, pinch the screen with two fingers and move slightly outward to toggle the same mode. Press X or swipe to the next video to exit clear mode. This trick is particularly great for screenshots, or when you want to get a better view of the video without the interface in the way.

Drop an emoji react in TikTok without opening comments

Press and hold the comment box to send a quick emoji reaction without pulling up the full comments section. It's faster, though if you ask me,  the comments section is crucial to the full TikTok experience. Some of the best content on the internet lives in the replies. 

Reset your TikTok For You feed's algorithm  

Stuck in a content rut? TikTok has a way to wipe your feed and start fresh:

  • Tap Profile at the bottom right

  • Tap the three-line menu (top right)

  • Go to Settings and privacy

  • Select Content preferences

  • Tap Refresh your For You feed

  • Tap Continue to confirm

Your feed will repopulate with a clean slate of broader, less personalized content.

Save a TikTok as a Live Photo for your iPhone Lock Ccreen

Love a video so much you want to see it every time you lock your phone? Or do you want to prank a friend who left their phone in your hands? On iPhone, open any video in TikTok, tap the Share (arrow) icon, and select Live Photo from the bottom row. The video will save to your Photos app. To then use it as a lock screen wallpaper:

  • Open the Live Photo in the iPhone Photos app

  • Tap Share → Use as Wallpaper

  • Or go to Settings → Wallpaper → Choose a New Wallpaper and select it from your library

Force-press your lock screen and your TikTok video will play as a live photo. This is useful if you really, really like someone's fan edits of your favorite character.

Opt out of TikTok's data collection

TikTok collects a lot. If you’re going to use the app, there isn’t really a way to get around the privacy nightmare completely. Still, in the settings, you can limit what it does with your data:

  • Turn off targeted ads outside of TikTok

  • Disable using off-TikTok activity for ad targeting

  • Turn off location tracking within the app

  • Stop contact syncing

You can also go to your phone's system Settings → TikTok and revoke location permissions at the OS level. This is usually a more reliable route than trusting in-app controls.

Stop TikTok from suggesting your account to others

Two layers here, and you need both: In TikTok settings, you should turn off syncing for contacts and Facebook friends. But the real hack is to also go into your phone's settings and revoke TikTok's contacts permission entirely. Otherwise TikTok may still be able to match your account to people who have your number saved, even with in-app syncing off.

Use hidden hashtags to reach the right audience

Ready to post something yourself? Hashtags tell TikTok's algorithm what your video is about, but a wall of hashtags in your caption looks messy and may actually confuse the algorithm. But you can hack it with two cleaner approaches:

  • Use SEO-based terms, shrink them small, and flick them off-screen in the caption editor.

  • Post your video, then immediately add hashtags as your very first comment.

Whichever method you choose, stick to 3–5 hashtags that directly relate to your content, mixing specific, broad, and trending tags. More isn't better here, since it can dilute your content.

Boost your own engagement

The secret to engaging an audience of your own is to actually be engaging, and to engage back with others. For instance, replying to comments with video responses boosts reach more than typing a reply does. But to make sure you’re posting something that gets a comment in the first place, use the three-hook rule to keep viewers watching past the first second:

  • Text hook. Put descriptive text on-screen that tells viewers exactly what this video is about.

  • Verbal hook. In your voiceover or talking-head intro, explain why they should stick around.

  • Visual hook. Do something visually compelling immediately. Always open with your most exciting footage, even if you circle back chronologically.

Finally, capitalizing on trends does help, but I promise you don't have to dance to trending sounds—just add a popular song to the background of whatever you're already filming to ride its algorithm boost. 


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The only thing Pixel users love more than the lock screen's Now Playing widget is talking about the Now Playing widget. Whenever I'm out and about with my Pixel and there's music playing, I'll always take a sneaky look at the lock screen, and yes, it'll have identified the song. It's magical. But until now, that's where the magic stopped.

What if you want a list of all the songs the widget recognized while you were at your local cafe? What if you want to save a song or play it in YouTube Music? Or even trigger the music search manually? Until now, that wasn't really possible. Now, Google has chosen to bring this functionality to a dedicated app, as part of its March Pixel Drop.

How to find your Now Playing listening history on Google Pixel

First, start by downloading the Now Playing app from the Google Play Store. At launch, it might ask you to download the latest software update and come back in a couple of hours. Once I installed the update, I was in.

To use the app, you'll need to enable the background feature that scans for music. If it's disabled, you'll be prompted to enable it before you can use the app (you'll be taken to where you can toggle it on).

Now Playing app for Android
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

The app opens to a history view, and you'll be glad to know that all the songs your Pixel's Now Playing widget previously recognized will all be here. The list can be pretty detailed. For me, it was over 100 songs long.

You can do more than look at your history, too. Tap the three-dot Menu button next to any song to listen to it on YouTube Music, add it to your Liked Songs, add it to a playlist, or add it to a Favorites section (which you can visit using the heart icon in the bottom toolbar).

Now Playing widget opens to app.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Head over to the Settings section up top, and you'll find an option for Connected music service. You can change your default music service here. Sadly, the only options available right now are YouTube and YouTube Music, but hopefully this means Google will add options for Spotify and Apple Music in future updates. Other than that, the Settings screen is quite bare. You can tap the Clear History button if you want to get rid of all your previously recognized songs, but that's about it.

How to manually scan for songs using the Now Playing app

Now Playing Scanning
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Beyond seeing a history of songs, the advantage of having a dedicated Now Playing app is that you can search for a song even if the widget doesn't automatically detect it. Open the Now Playing app and switch to the Live tab at the end. Then, tap the big Music button to start recognizing the song (if you've ever used Shazam, this should be familiar). In a second, the app will recognize the song, and you'll see a full-screen preview for it.

The Now Playing app also supports Quick Settings controls, one of my favorite ways to trigger shortcuts and utilities on Android. To add the Now Playing control to your Quick Settings, open the notification drawer, switch to the Quick Settings panel, and tap the Edit button. Find and add the Now Playing control. Now, the next time you want to find out what you're listening to, just open the Quick Settings panel, tap the Now Playing control, and wait as the app does its thing.


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Software security has reached an inflection point as AI development tools increase the volume and velocity of software releases, while AI is also powering the next generation of threat actors driving attack volume and sophistication to new heights.

For security teams, this is not just acceleration – it is multiplication: more apps, more releases, and more opportunities for attackers. The challenge is no longer protecting just flagship applications but securing all Android and iOS releases without slowing development or adding friction to delivery workflows.

Digital.ai announced the LLM-enhanced Digital.ai Quick Protect Agent v2, the latest version of its application hardening solution for mobile apps.

Powered by AI and built on the principle that security must be automated and embedded into existing pipelines, Quick Protect AI expands post-build protection across Android and iOS applications, making it easier than ever to deliver trusted, secure applications in an AI-world. With this release, Digital.ai also deepens integration between Application Security and Digital.ai Testing, giving teams a practical way to ensure applications are both secure and high quality.

As AI accelerates malware creation, app cloning, and reverse engineering, mobile applications have become one of the fastest-growing attack surfaces for enterprises. Every new app release is a potential entry point into core business systems. Development teams are under pressure to move faster, while security teams are under pressure to reduce risk, widening the gap between speed and protection, and exposing the limits of checkbox compliance approaches to mobile security.

“As we enter the age of agentic software development and delivery, delivery pipelines and attacks are both moving faster and at greater scale,” said Derek Holt, CEO of Digital.ai. “Quick Protect AI leverages the power of AI along with more than a decade of application security experience to close the gap by letting teams secure Android and iOS apps in minutes. With this release, we are making security accessible to all organizations by reducing the need for specialized skills and ensuring that every app that should be protected, can be protected.”

Digital.ai Quick Protect AI delivers enterprise-grade mobile app protection post-build, helping organizations defend against reverse engineering, tampering, and runtime attacks—while keeping development pipelines fast, predictable, and developer-friendly. Key enhancements in this release include:

AI-Powered Post-Build Protection for Android and iOS – Quick Protect AI automatically applies production-ready security controls after the build process for both Android and iOS apps, eliminating the need for source code changes or manual configurations.

Targeted code-aware protection across mobile apps – Quick Protect AI analyzes application code to pinpoint the most sensitive components and obfuscates only those areas. The result: better protection for Android and iOS apps with less impact on performance.

Integrated protection and testing in the CI/CD – Quick Protect AI connects app hardening directly to Digital.ai Testing, enabling automated validation of performance, functionality, and accessibility within existing CI/CD workflows.

With LLM-enhanced Quick Protect Agent v2, Digital.ai removes the traditional tradeoff between speed and security, enabling teams to harden, test, and ship mobile applications through a single, automated workflow without disrupting existing delivery processes.

This release reinforces Digital.ai’s mission to make enterprise-grade application security practical and scalable for every development team and application through the power of AI. With Digital.ai’s automated app hardening and integrated testing, organizations can reduce mobile risk, protect intellectual property, and deliver secure digital experiences at the pace of modern software delivery.


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Tufin announced its latest AI-powered innovations, enabling customers to utilize its Unified Control Plane to accelerate issue resolution, reduce operational friction, and limit risk – even as network complexity continues to grow.

Security teams face pressure to move faster while maintaining a secure network environment. The complexity of the network makes it harder and harder to keep tabs on where potential problems are and opens up opportunities for attackers using advanced AI tools to take advantage of the situation. In response, enterprises have turned to AI solutions for help.

In Deloitte’s recent “The State of AI in the Enterprise” report, a quarter of enterprise leaders say “…that AI is having a transformative effect on their companies – more than double from a year ago.” In fact, as OpenAI found in its “The State of Enterprise AI” report, that transformative effect is real, as “…75% of workers report that using AI at work has improved either the speed or quality of their output.”

TufinAI-powered solutions empower organizations to use AI to meet these enterprise challenges head-on, accessing insights, answering critical questions, and taking action using natural-language tools, all without relying on manual processes or specialized solution expertise.

By using AI to make it easier for teams to access and understand their network’s security posture, potential vulnerabilities and points of attack can be revealed, enabling better-informed decisions to be made at a speed that matches or exceeds that of attackers. Better network data leads to quicker response times, proactive actions, and continuous network protection.

“At Tufin, we’re dedicated to eliminating the historically accepted tradeoff between security, customization, and ease-of-use,” said Shay Dayan, Tufin’s SVP of Products and Engineering. “The combination of advanced AI-powered tools with our Unified Control Plane helps teams simplify network security operations, remove friction from workflows, and scale without additional resources. As network complexity grows, it is our job to accelerate AI innovations that can make it easier to understand and manage.”

Four new AI-powered assistants have been launched, covering rules, devices, compliance exceptions, and access requests. Built on the company’s embedded AI engine, TufinAI, these innovations are designed to accelerate network security operations, simplify intricate workflows, and improve operational efficiency across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.

In addition, today the company also announced the launch of the TufinAI Executive Dashboard, which provides the answer to the long-time industry issue of static, fixed and “one-size-fits-all” security dashboards.

Tufin’s latest AI-powered innovation enables users to use natural-language prompts to customize the data incorporated and presented, making it easy to answer key questions including, “are we secure?” or “where are we at risk?”

Expanding the TufinAI assistant portfolio

Tufin continues to expand its portfolio of AI-powered assistants, each designed to eliminate common operational bottlenecks and streamline day-to-day security tasks. In addition to its successful TufinMate AI assistants for IT, SOC, and Network Security Engineers, the following new AI assistants have been added:

TufinAI Assistant Rule Search enables teams to quickly locate and understand relevant security rules using natural-language queries. It helps teams to collaborate faster and speed decision-making.

TufinAI Assistant Device Search allows users to instantly find devices and related policy context, on their networks, without having to navigate complex interfaces. This assistant helps teams to troubleshoot faster and reduce manual inventory filtering.

TufinAI Assistant for Unified Security Policy (USP) Exception Search helps teams rapidly identify, view, and analyze compliance exceptions within an organization’s master network security policy. This assistant simplifies rule exception management, reduces risk, and improves overall security policy hygiene by identifying policy violations and security gaps more efficiently.

TufinAI Assistant Access Request allows users to request network access changes and provide additional information via natural-language prompts. Change requests and approvals are automated, saving time and making the process more efficient.

The combination of TufinMate with these new TufinAI assistants help security teams work faster, reduce manual effort, and make more confident, risk-aware decisions, regardless of role or level of expertise.

Total visibility with the TufinAI Executive Dashboard

Tufin’s new TufinAI Executive Dashboard addresses a longstanding challenge in security operations: static, one-size-fits-all reporting that fails to meet the needs of different teams and stakeholders.

Tufin now makes it possible for any user to create customized dashboard views using natural-language prompts, eliminating the need to engage a company’s development team in a time-consuming process and speeding time-to-value.

By dynamically shaping insights around each team’s specific KPIs, the dashboard provides real-time visibility into security posture, risk, and change impact across today’s hybrid environments.

Key use cases include:

  • Security posture visibility and risk assessment
  • Incident investigation and response
  • Change impact analysis and approval acceleration
  • Audit and compliance reporting with executive-ready views
  • Operational monitoring at scale, as environments grow and evolve

By eliminating manual reporting and fixed views, the dashboard helps teams detect issues faster, prioritize high-risk changes, improve audit readiness, and increase confidence for both security leaders and executives.


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Traditionally, movies released in theaters in January and February are, uh, troubled. But streaming is opposite world. Studios want to get their best material in front of as many eyes as possible in the run up to the Oscars, leading to a glut of streaming prestige movies, an embarrassment of cinematic riches. Whether you like high-concept sci-fi, quirky, auteur-driven dramas, or record-breaking awards contenders, February’s streaming charts are excellent.

Here's the full list of the top 10 most-streamed movies of February 2026 across all major streaming services, as compiled by JustWatch.

Predator: Badlands (2025)

The excellent reboot of the Predator franchise continues with Predator: Badlands, a fast-paced thrill-ride of a movie told from the predator's point of view. Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi stars as a young alien super-hunter, cast out from his tribe and banished to a lonely planet where he meets Thia, played by Elle Fanning. The unlikely pair set out on a quest for the ultimate adversary. Stream Predator: Badlands on Hulu.

Bugonia (2025)

I love when a weirdo movie finds a big audience, and Bugonia is that movie. Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis play a couple of societal dregs who kidnap a high-powered pharmaceutical executive (Emma Stone) because they think she's an alien. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, who helmed 2023's excellent Poor Things, the Best Picture Oscar nominee is a must-watch, even if you're only a little weird. (And if you want more weirdness, it's based on an even odder South Korean film called Save the Green Planet.) Stream Bugonia on Peacock.

Blue Moon (2025)

The great Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Boyhood) directs Ethan Hawk in a biopic about the last days of legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart. The year is 1943, and Oklahoma! is opening on Broadway. While Richard Rodgers is celebrating his biggest hit with his new partner Oscar Hammerstein, Hart is left to drink and pine for his muse Elizabeth, played by Margaret Qualley. Ethan Hawk delivers a career-defining and Oscar-nominated performance in this funny, sad rumination on the nature and price of genius. Stream Blue Moon on Netflix.

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (2025)

Production company A24's unbroken string of interesting, intelligent movies continues with If I Had Legs I'd Kick You. Directed by Mary Bronstein, If I Had Legs is a tense look at the toxic side of motherhood. Rose Byrne earned an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Linda, an exhausted mom caring for her chronically ill daughter while navigating her own mental breakdown. It's not exactly an uplifting crowd-pleaser, but it is an uncompromising, unforgettable film. Stream If I Had Legs I'd Kick You on HBO Max.

One Battle After Another (2025)

Paul Thomas Anderson's nuanced, intelligent thriller about resistance and race in a fascistic, anti-immigration United States is an instant classic. Featuring fantastic performances from heavyweights like Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, and Regina Hall, One Battle After Another is that rare movie that's equal parts thoughtful and exciting. It was nominated for 13 Oscars. Stream one Battle After Another on HBO Max.

Song Sung Blue (2025)

I would not be interested in a movie about "Sweet Caroline" singer Neil Diamond, but I could totally get down with a movie about a Neil Diamond impersonator. Song Sung Blue tells the true story of Milwaukee-based husband and wife Mike and Claire Sardina, who performed at state fairs as Neil Diamond tribute duo "Lightning & Thunder" throughout the 1990s, and even found a weird kind of semi-fame by opening for bands like Urge Overkill and Pearl Jam. Kate Hudson was nominated for an Oscar for playing Lightning and Hugh Jackman was robbed. Stream Song Sung Blue on Peacock.

Sinners (2025)

This one-of-kind flick mashes up so many styles, it's practically its own genre. A historical-horror-ensemble romance-drama-comedy-musical exploring race and historical prejudice in the United States, Sinners tells its story through both song and vampire violence. It is absolutely top-notch in every cinematic way, which is probably why it earned a record 16 Oscar nominations. Stream Sinners on HBO Max and Prime Video.

The Running Man (2025)

Based on a 1982 novel by Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman) and directed by Edgar Wright, The Running Man is a dystopian near-future sci-fi action movie in which the most popular show on TV is a deadly reality competition with contestants who must survive 30 days while being hunted by professional assassins. I hate to admit that I would totally watch that show, and you should totally watch this movie. Stream The Running Man on MGM+ and Paramount+.

Eternity (2025)

In this high-concept romantic comedy, Elizabeth Olsen plays Joan, a recently deceased woman with a very important decision before her. She has a week in purgatory to choose who to spend eternity with: her first husband Luke—a handsome, romantic dude played by Callum Turner—or her second husband, Larry—a dependable everyman (Miles Teller). Stream Eternity on Apple TV+.

Rental Family (2025)

The resurgence of Brendan Frasier is delightful. In Rental Family, Fraser is perfectly cast as an American actor in Tokyo whose job is playing different roles in people's lives. A premise like that could set up a dystopian nightmare of a movie, but director Hikari takes a lighter, more subtle approach to exploring the thin line between performance and reality. Stream Rental Family on Hulu.


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Clones are everywhere. Last week I talked about the rumor that actor Selena Gomez is a clone or a double (she is not). This week, it's Jim Carrey. Many online are wondering whether the rubber-faced comedian/actor is not what he seems to be. Maybe he's a clone. Maybe he has a doppelgänger. Maybe it's a prank.

This is all obviously dumb, but unlike the Selena Gomez story, there's some evidence that supports the idea. It's not good evidence, but it's at least a little more interesting than most conspiracy theories.

Why people think Jim Carrey is a lookalike

The theories started flying last week, when Jim Carrey was given the César Award in Paris. The 64-year-old comedian hasn't been seen much in public for the past couple of years, and he delivered a speech in French at the awards presentation, despite never having publicly spoken the language. And he looked different than he used to. See for yourself:

This was enough evidence for the world's conspiracy theorists to conclude that Carrey is a clone, or that he has been replaced by a multilingual double or something. So people took to X, instagram, and TikTok to spread the theory in posts like this:

And this:

His eyes are a different color, people said. His face has a totally different shape. Not the same guy, they concluded. But the rabbit hole goes deeper than just "he looks different."

The Alexis Stone connection

On March 1, Alexis Stone, an online person, seemed to take credit for portraying Carrey at the award show with the following post on Instagram bearing the caption "Alexis Stone as Jim Carrey in Paris."

Stone has gained over a million followers online for their ability to impersonate celebrities to an uncanny level using latex and special effects makeup. Check out this Jack Nicholson:

So it's not impossible, right?

Jim Carrey has admitted to using doubles in the past

It wasn't long before internet sleuths tracked down a David Letterman interview with Carrey where he says he's used a "Jim Carrey double." "I send him off in one direction, and he sucks all the press in that direction, and I can just have my day," Carrey told David Letterman.

So he admits it! The plot thickens.

Wouldn't it be like Jim Carrey to do this?

Carrey is no stranger to pranking the media. During the filming of the Andy Kaufman bio pic Man on the Moon, Carrey would show up to the set dressed as Kaufman's alter ego Tony Clifton, refusing to break character and abusing the crew and director Milos Forman. He supposedly re-ignited Andy Kaufman's feud with wrestler Jerry Lawler. In the behind-the-scenes documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, Carrey says he "lost himself" in the character of Kaufman. So maybe Carrey pulled the prank himself as publicity stunt for a movie. If anyone could pull it off, surely it would Jim Carrey.

To recap: Jim Carrey is known for pranking the media; he showed up out of nowhere in Paris, spoke a different language, doesn't look the same, admits to using doubles in the past, and Alexis Stone seems to have taken credit for appearing as Carrey's double. So is it really that far-fetched to think that this could be the one real case of a celebrity double?

Yes, it is that far-fetched.

Why Jim Carrey is not a clone and there is no Jim Carrey double

It was not a clone. As discussed in this column previously, human cloning is theoretically possible, but you can only clone embryos, not full-grown Canadian comedians, so unless the switcharoo was planned in the early 1960s, it wasn't a clone that accepted the César Award for Jim Carrey last weekend.

It was not a body double, either. If Stone had appeared as Carrey, why would they do such a bad job? Why wouldn't fake Jim Carrey look how people expect him to look? Why go with the wrong face shape and the wrong eye color? Besides, latex face appliances can look good in photos, but as soon as someone wearing it tries to talk, it's obviously fake.

It was Jim Carrey. His people confirmed it, but even if they hadn't, it would still be obvious. Carrey's French was halting, because he'd learned it just to give that speech. His comments to Letterman were a joke, because he's a comedian. While the actor has pranked the media in the past, the César Award is as prestigious a filmic honor as there is; it's not the kind of thing you mess with. Besides, Carrey attended the ceremony with an entourage of 16 people, including his daughter Jane, his grandson Jackson, and his girlfriend Mina. So are they all in on it? Or did the double fool them too?

The most compelling evidence that the man who spoke at the French awards show last week was the real Jim Carrey is that he looks exactly like Jim Carrey. It's the same eye color: In dark-eyed people, bright, direct light can make brown eyes appear lighter. It's the same face. He looks older than he did when he was Ace Ventura, and he looks like he had cosmetic work done, but that is Jim Carrey, and no matter how many lines people draw on downloaded images, it's still going to be Jim Carrey.


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The trend of integrating AI into digital platforms continues. In the latest Android beta release (2.26.9.4), the company has introduced a feature that allows users to organize their chat history with the help of Meta AI.

WhatsApp chats Meta AI

Organize WhatsApp chats with Meta AI (Source: WABetaInfo)

Some beta testers can access a new feature that lets them review their conversations with Meta AI. Each time a user sends a new prompt, the chatbot starts a separate conversation, and the information shared within that thread is used to understand context and respond to subsequent messages.

Despite this separation, all messages exchanged with Meta AI are still displayed within a single interface, even when they belong to different conversations.

“With the latest update, WhatsApp is making it easier for users to track information shared in specific conversations with Meta AI. Each conversation is now treated as a separate thread, so information from one chat is not automatically carried over to another. However, memory is still shared across all AI threads unless users choose to disable it from the contact info screen,” WABetaInfo reported.

The feature may appeal to users who value AI-assisted organization. It also raises questions about data handling and privacy.

Messages sent to Meta AI are processed on the company’s servers to generate responses and maintain context. These exchanges fall outside WhatsApp’s standard end-to-end encrypted user-to-user model.

Users may disclose sensitive details, including health, financial or personal information, without knowing how long the data is stored or how it may be used. That creates privacy concerns, particularly in the EU, where regulators have said certain forms of AI data processing may require explicit consent.

The company has already faced criticism over its AI training practices.

According to a company blog post, the AI feature allows Meta to personalize content and advertising based on users’ interactions with its generative AI tools. There is no opt-out for this data use, and it applies to anyone who engages with Meta AI on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger.

Meta says it is investing significant effort in protecting user privacy. How those safeguards perform over time remains to be seen.


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