If you were one of the people who migrated from messaging app WhatsApp to ones like Telegram and Signal because of the former’s controversial new terms of service that come into effect from May 15, 2021, then you’ll be interested to know that Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, who also owns WhatsApp, is himself supposedly on Signal. But how exactly did people find this bit of information, you ask? Here’s what happened:
According to Business Today, data of 533 million Facebook users (including 6 million Indians) leaked and phone numbers linked to the accounts were posted on a hackers’ forum. Ironically, among the users were also co-founders Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes.
533 million Facebook users’ phone numbers leaked on hacker forum – @LawrenceAbramshttps://t.co/oj2BqF92Fs
— BleepingComputer (@BleepinComputer) April 3, 2021
India Today reports that in the data breach, Mark Zuckerberg’s personal details like contact number name, location, marriage details, birthdate, and Facebook user ID were also leaked. Subsequently, when cyber researcher Dave Walker checked if his number was registered on Signal, it was.
In another turn of events, Mark Zuckerberg also respects his own privacy, by using a chat app that has end-to-end encryption and isn't owned by @facebook
This is the number associated with his account from the recent facebook leak. https://t.co/AXbXrF4ZxE
— Dave Walker (@Daviey) April 4, 2021
Needless to say, the Signal app that prides itself on providing its users complete privacy, poked fun at the development with this tweet:
With the May 15th WhatsApp Terms of Service acceptance deadline fast approaching, Mark leads by example:https://t.co/Mt5YksaAxL
— Signal (@signalapp) April 6, 2021
Some people thought it was ironic of Mark to use Signal, others said that he was probably just keeping tabs on the competition.
— Sabo (@DerSabotyp) April 6, 2021
😂😂😂this is the funniest shit on internet, Haha haha even the owner of the biggest platform doesn’t trust his own brand. The earth is hard.
— Bobby Vj (@BobbyVj) April 6, 2021
As usual, to copy the features.
— sreenivas (@g_sreeni) April 6, 2021
Not entirely surprising. He’s long been known to use competitor services. I remember he joined Google Plus when it launched. Seems smart to check out your competitors.
— Shane Conway (@shaneliamconway) April 6, 2021
Even Zuck respects his own privacy. We should all do the same https://t.co/DBzxyQ9w4H
— Tinashe (@Alphrika) April 6, 2021
Burnnnn https://t.co/QdOYUoyWcc
— Wamathai (@Wamathai) April 6, 2021
The company had said that the vulnerability had been detected and mended in August 2019 itself. What do you think of this entire incident?