WhatsApp Hid Instructions Telling Its AI Chatbot Not to Recommend Privacy Regulators

Hidden text in WhatsApp's help pages instructed its support chatbot not to recommend a data protection regulator to users who could no longer delete their accounts. The instruction, never shown on screen, was removed by October 18, despite WhatsApp's European privacy policy telling users they can complain to a regulator.

• The instruction sat in help-page code and was never displayed to users
• The chatbot was told not to suggest regulators to users unable to delete accounts
• The hidden text was removed by October 18
• WhatsApp's European privacy policy lets users complain to a supervisory authority