- Facebook and WhatsApp are owned by Meta
- Both share user data with each other and with the rest of the group.
I know that WhatsApp is owned by Meta, just like Facebook. I know the relationship between the two platforms and the parent company, that the messaging app shares a lot of user data with the rest of Meta’s companies, including Facebook . What surprised me is that the social network used WhatsApp for two-factor authentication.
Because of my increasingly reduced use of social networks, and the little benefit I find in Facebook lately , I have not logged into the social network regularly for years. In fact, I can go months without logging in from my computer; which always involves confirmation with a text message (I don’t even touch the mobile app). But that was before: the last few times I logged into Facebook, the code came to me via a parallel channel .
Why spend money on text messages when there are WhatsApps?
Since Meta shares user data between its services and platforms, WhatsApp knows that I have a Facebook account and Facebook knows that my mobile number has a WhatsApp account. There was so much personal data that I gradually eliminated my information from Meta until it was the minimum necessary to function. Although I must admit that the relationship between Meta and WhatsApp reserves a certain benefit.
I have two-step confirmation enabled on all my accounts (my recommendation is that you do the same, as it is very easy to steal a user ). Until now, every time I wanted to log into Facebook I chose “Use another method” and, from the drop-down menu, I selected SMS. With the introduction of WhatsApp, I now get a direct confirmation code sent to my messaging account . Less privacy, but more convenient. One thing for another.
Receiving the confirmation code via WhatsApp allows me to access Facebook from any mobile phone that has the account logged in . Since I am constantly changing mobile phones, I am moving the WhatsApp account, not the main SIM, so I can be sure that I will log in even from a mobile phone that I am analyzing.
Receiving confirmation codes via instant messaging instead of SMS makes it easier to use two-factor authentication as a security measure. And without losing that option, Facebook still shows me that it can be sent via text message if I need it. However, there is an important point here: the code is received on the mobile phone that has the main WhatsApp account, not on all the ones that are linked . If you use WhatsApp Web, for example, you will not receive the code there.
WhatsApp can share almost any information with Facebook
Depending on whether you live in the European Union or the rest of the world, Meta companies will have access to more or less of your data. The former are somewhat more covered in terms of privacy, although, equally, information is shared among the entire group; in addition to third-party companies that work with Meta . WhatsApp specifies this in its terms of service .
The content of the messages themselves is 100% private, as end-to-end encryption prevents access . The rest is a different story: user IP address with approximate location, metadata of information related to connections, device identification, WhatsApp shares the phone number with Meta… And if you had already associated that same number with your Facebook, Meta establishes the relationship between both accounts to offer, among many other things, two-step confirmation for messaging.
Sending access codes via WhatsApp is evidence of the close relationship between this platform and Facebook. Even if you rarely access Facebook, the personal information you share via WhatsApp is very valuable . That’s why Meta spent $19 billion on it in 2014.