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Why WhatsApp users are pushing family members to Signal

Why WhatsApp users are pushing family members to Signal

When WhatsApp users started freaking out about privacy on the messaging app last month, Kevin Woblick knew it was time to encourage his family to move to another chat service: Signal.

The 30-year-old German software developer had broached the topic after Edward Snowden leaked classified documents detailing America's mass surveillance program. But Woblick couldn't convince his family to delete WhatsApp despite the Snowden news and the global uproar over digital privacy that followed. So this time, he took a gentler approach. 

"It wouldn't be too inconvenient to have a second messenger on your phone right?" he asked his family. He found it amusing that his grandma was the first to agree to download the app. Then, the rest of his family followed.

Woblick and his family are among the exodus of WhatsApp users bolting from the Facebook-owned messaging app to services like Signal that are seen as secure alternatives. Making the move isn't easy, because people naturally gravitate toward apps their friends and family use, and then stick with them. In India, WhatsApp's largest market, switching to another messaging service is even tougher because of its enormous reach. 

WhatsApp, which Facebook bought in 2014 for $19 billion, is used by more than 2 billion people in over 180 countries. The popular app is an online space where people go to chat, shop and share news. More than 175 million people message a business on WhatsApp daily, allowing them to browse or buy items, ranging from cakes to flights. The messaging app, though, has also been criticized for not doing enough to curb the spread of misinformation that fuels violence. In 2018, false rumors about child kidnappers ignited mob violence and killings in India, prompting WhatsApp to limit message forwarding.

Outrage over privacy on WhatsApp began to grow in January, when the service notified users it was updating its privacy policy and terms of service. The update included details about how WhatsApp data could be used and shared when a user messages a business on the app. Some users thought the changes meant WhatsApp could read their messages and listen to their personal phone calls. WhatsApp said the messaging service can't read personal messages, because they're end-to-end encrypted, and that the changes wouldn't expand the app's ability to share data with Facebook. 

WhatsApp responded to the fallout, pushing back the update until May. It placed newspaper ads in India, shared more information on its website, and used Status, a tool that lets users post content that disappears within 24 hours, to assure people their personal WhatsApp messages remain private. 

By then, though, the damage had been done. 

From Jan.1 to Jan. 25, compared with Dec. 7 to Dec. 31, Signal installs jumped 4,868%, while downloads of WhatsApp fell roughly 16%, according to data from data analytics firm SensorTower. At one point, the surge in new users led to a daylong outage on Signal. A spokesperson for Signal said the app "had a record breaking January" but declined to say how many users are on the app. 

Unlike WhatsApp, Signal isn't owned by a company. It's funded by a nonprofit set up by Moxie Marlinspike and Brian Acton, who co-founded WhatsApp but left the social media giant in 2017. Besides the user outrage, the encrypted-messaging service has also been endorsed by high-profile figures, including Snowden and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

David Choffnes, an associate computer science professor at Northeastern University, said WhatsApp's policy updates could've rekindled concerns over Facebook's poor track record with privacy. He pointed to the scandal involving Cambridge Analytica, a British political consultancy, that harvested the data of roughly 87 million Facebook users without their permission. 

"The whole world has lost a lot of trust in Facebook," Choffnes said, adding that the WhatsApp backlash "was sort of like a powder keg ready to ignite."

Nidhi Hegde, director of strategy and programs at the American Economic Liberties Project in Washington, DC, said her family uses a mix of WhatsApp and Signal. Some didn't want to switch to a new messaging service, especially after WhatsApp delayed its privacy updates. On Thursday, WhatsApp was No. 3 in Apple's top apps for social networking, and Signal was No. 12.

"I think what it has done is make a lot more people (like my mom and older relatives) who are not particularly tech-savvy or thinking about privacy become more aware of Facebook's power and how their personal data is mined for targeted advertising to feed Facebook's business," Hegde said in an email. "And they are now significantly concerned that they have no choice but to accept the terms."

Last month, WhatsApp users got a notice telling them the app's 3,800-word privacy policy and 5,000-word terms of service were being updated to include information about processing of user data, the ability of businesses to use Facebook services for managing chats, and the relationship between WhatsApp and Facebook. The notice linked to the revised policies but didn't outline the exact changes users were agreeing to if they accepted the updates.

The changes spell out what happens to your data when you message a business on WhatsApp, which is different from chatting with friends and family. Some businesses might make communications available to a third-party service provider that manages their chats with customers, which can include Facebook, the revised privacy policy says. WhatsApp labels chats with businesses that use Facebook's services to manage their conversations. A WhatsApp FAQ on the changes also notes that when a person messages a business, the store might use that information for marketing, which could include Facebook ads. 

Some users thought the updates meant WhatsApp was going to force them to share personal data with Facebook for the first time. (But WhatsApp has already been sharing data with Facebook to suggest content and connections, and display "relevant offers and ads." The company updated its privacy policy in 2016 to reflect that and WhatsApp users that year were allowed to opt out of this data sharing.) 

On social media, WhatsApp users quickly began sharing strategies about how to get family and friends to migrate to Signal or other messaging apps. 

Siddharth Rao created a public Google doc he shared on Twitter titled "How to start a conversation about the Signal app with your family." Rao, a security and privacy researcher in Finland, said he's trying to learn more from WhatsApp users about their experience migrating to Signal and whether they stayed after the move. Many of the people who added to the document still have "one leg" in WhatsApp and the other in Signal, he said. 

One strategy included in the document is to lie and tell people that WhatsApp is shutting down. Other tips include easing users into deleting WhatsApp after they've tried Signal, by disabling notifications for the Facebook-owned app.

Shachin Bharadwaj, an entrepreneur who splits his time between India and California, said he received anxious messages from his parents after the privacy changes were announced, concerned that WhatsApp was going to read their chats. The 38-year-old said he also recalled seeing videos, including one that called Facebook "evil" and claimed the company was planning to listen to users' conversations. 

Bharadwaj knows that private messages remain encrypted on WhatsApp, but that didn't stop him from downloading Signal last month. He's used WhatsApp to order items such as medication in India, but he feels like there's just "too much happening" on the Facebook-owned service and wants to keep his most personal chats, like his family chats, on Signal. He now splits his messaging between the apps.

"I don't think you can ever leave WhatsApp as of the situation in India today," Bharadwaj said, pointing to the amount of WhatsApp users in that country. "But my idea was to move quality conversations to Signal."

As for Woblick, he thinks it'll "take a lot of time" before he's comfortable deleting WhatsApp, because some of his friends stayed on the app. For now, however, he's OK with using both. "For me it was more important to do that first step and migrate the most important people and contacts to Signal so I'm able to work with them without needing to use WhatsApp," he said.

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WhatsApp adds Joinable calls, a way to hop on group calls after they started

WhatsApp adds Joinable calls, a way to hop on group calls after they started

WhatsApp is adding a new feature with the aim of making it easier for people to join group calls with family and friends. Joinable calls allow you to hop on a call that's already started, or leave and rejoin the call as long as it's still going. 

The chat app is also adding an information screen to your calls so you can see who's already on the call and who still needs to join. If you want to hold off on joining a call with your friends and family, you can hit "ignore" and join the call later from WhatsApp's calls tab. 

The feature will start rolling out Monday, WhatsApp said.

In June, WhatsApp said it'll add multidevice support, letting you link four devices to one account.

Read more: 12 of the best hidden WhatsApp features you need to know

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Missing iPhone texts and notifications are frustrating: These fixes could help

Missing iPhone texts and notifications are frustrating: These fixes could help

Apple's iOS 15 made a number of changes to how notifications work, allowing iPhone users to prioritize important alerts and make less important notifications less intrusive. They're certainly less intrusive: Over the past few months I've been wrestling with my iPhone's settings to even see when my friends message me on WhatsApp, Signal, Instagram and other apps. In one extreme case, a friend texted me on Signal on a Friday, and I didn't even notice their text until Monday when I opened up the app -- thankfully it was nothing pressing, but I was embarrassed.

I'm not alone in this frustration. Multiple threads on Reddit are focused on trying to bring notifications back, whether due to changes in how notifications behave when Do Not Disturb is on, how notifications won't appear unless you proactively enter an app and people having such a difficult time with iOS 15's Focus feature that they're finding it easier to use apps with similar notification controls. 

Third-party app developers might not be able to control these systems either. WhatsApp has an FAQ page that specifically references the way Apple controls push notifications on the iPhone. While the issue appears to originate from WhatsApp, there's little the company can recommend apart from restoring the phone to factory settings and starting over. 

These issues have the potential to come to a head during the busy holiday season, since family and friends will use whatever device and messaging service is most convenient to get in touch. Notifications are the way we keep up with chats, whether your friends and family prefer iMessage, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or any other number of texting and video chat apps.

So let's go over some of the biggest obstacles that currently affect notifications and applicable solutions where possible.

iOS 15's Focus may need some tweaks

iOS 15's Focus mode is meant to be an evolution of Do Not Disturb. In addition to allowing users to select Do Not Disturb, which lets you silence notifications until it is turned off, it allows you to create situational profiles that are more custom tailored to your needs. For instance, I recently created a "Movies" focus that when enabled turns off notifications from all apps, phone calls and texts except for the RunPee app, which is a timer that sends a notification at the best times to leave a movie theater to take a restroom break. 

Focus, while well-intentioned, does however lead to an easy way to accidentally leave your phone in a state of not receiving notifications. Focus can also be enabled to be run across your various Apple devices, making it either convenient for silencing notifications for your needs or a liability if you only wanted to silence your phone but leave your iPad and Mac computers alone.

Accessing Focus for turning it on and off is fairly easy: You open Control Center by either scrolling down from the top-right corner of an iPhone with Face ID's display or scrolling up from the bottom of an iPhone with a home button's display. This should serve as a decent first start for figuring out whether Focus is the issue at fault. 

If it appears like the issues are the Focus settings themselves, you'll need to drill down by going to the iPhone's Settings app, scrolling down to Focus and entering the menu for the specific Focus you need to adjust. For instance, I noticed my Sleep focus that begins to activate around 10:50 p.m. was causing me to miss texts and video calls from friends that I do enjoy talking to before bed -- but I didn't want to leave my phone open for anyone to ring that late at night. I adjusted the Sleep focus to allow calls from specific people that I am OK with reaching me after that time. It's not elegant as now that smaller list could potentially decide to wake me up to calls at 3 a.m., but for now it's the best system for me. 

The way your notifications are delivered might also have been changed depending on your Focus settings. Instead of receiving notifications individually, your Focus may be collecting them together into a Summary. Tweaks to how that summary works can be found separately by going to Settings, Notifications and tapping Scheduled Summary to make tweaks or to turn the feature off. 

Notifications that are hidden might be collected for a summary, depending on your settings.

Patrick Holland/CNET

Do Not Disturb's changes may disturb how you use your phone

Do Not Disturb is now part of Focus, but it has a key tweak that appears to be messing with the way some people have previously used their phone. Before iOS 15, when turning on Do Not Disturb an iPhone wouldn't buzz or immediately display notifications while the phone was locked and the display was off. However, notifications would display if you were actively using the phone while it's in Do Not Disturb mode.

The fix isn't quite clean as of yet. Like with the previous example I gave of adjusting the settings of an individual Focus, you can adjust how the Do Not Disturb Focus behaves. In addition to selecting people you can ring your phone, you can pick specific apps that are allowed to notify you when you have Do Not Disturb on. However, then the apps you choose will notify your phone at all times when Do Not Disturb is enabled, whether your phone display is on or off.

If this bothers you, you aren't alone. A fairly active Reddit thread on r/iOS has been communicating on exactly that issue and sharing tips for workarounds until something official is hopefully baked in at a later date.

A strange solution for getting notifications back

During my own wrangling through various Reddits and Apple support pages to get my notifications working for WhatsApp, Signal and Instagram, I found a strange solution that has at least worked for myself.

In Apple's Support forums, one person discovered that turning on and off the "Announce Notifications" feature could possibly fix your phone's notifications. To access it, you go to Settings, then Notifications, then Siri, then turn Announce Notifications on. The feature is normally for allowing Siri to read your notifications out loud, such as when you are driving. But instead of leaving it on, exit out of the Settings app, then re-enter it and turn it back off.

Somehow when I do those steps, apps that aren't notifying me resume again. It doesn't make sense, but I've now run through these steps twice when I noticed the problem has resumed, and it's fixed it each time.

I'll keep updating this article as I find more solutions for getting notifications back in iOS 15. If you have found any roadblocks that have stopped you from receiving notifications or solutions to getting them back, feel free to write them in the comments.

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Pegasus Spyware and Citizen Surveillance: Here's What You Should Know

Pegasus Spyware and Citizen Surveillance: Here's What You Should Know

For digital spying technology, it's a doozy of a case. Security researchers have revealed evidence of attempted or successful installations of Pegasus, software made by Israel-based cybersecurity company NSO Group, on phones belonging to activists, rights workers, journalists and businesspeople. They appear to have been targets of secret surveillance by software that's intended to help governments pursue criminals and terrorists, and as the months go by, more and more Pegasus infections are emerging.

The most recent revelation is that Pegasus infected the phones of at least 30 Thai activists, according to a July report from Citizen Lab, a Canadian security organization at the University of Toronto. Apple warned those with infected phones in November.

To try to thwart such attacks, Apple has built a new Lockdown Mode into iOS 16, its iPhone software update due to arrive later in 2022, and into its upcoming MacOS Ventura.

The US government is one of the most powerful forces unleashed against Pegasus — even though the CIA and FBI were Pegasus customers, as reported by The New York Times in January. The US Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation, The Guardian said in February, after a whistleblower said NSO Group offered "bags of cash" for sensitive mobile phone data from a US tech firm, Mobileum. The spyware was found on the phones of at least nine State Department officials who were either based in Uganda or involved in matters associated with the African country, Reuters and The New York Times reported in December. 

Pegasus is the latest example of how vulnerable we all are to digital prying. Our phones store our most personal information, including photos, text messages and emails. Spyware can reveal directly what's going on in our lives, bypassing the encryption that protects data sent over the internet.

Pegasus has been a politically explosive issue that's put Israel under pressure from activists and from governments worried about misuse of the software. In November, the US federal government took much stronger action, blocking sale of US technology to NSO by putting the company on the government's Entity List. NSO has suspended some countries' Pegasus privileges but has sought to defend its software and the controls it tries to place on its use. NSO Group didn't respond to a request for comment, and the Justice Department declined to comment.

Here's what you need to know about Pegasus.

What is NSO Group?

It's an Israel-based company that licenses surveillance software to government agencies. The company says its Pegasus software provides a valuable service because encryption technology has allowed criminals and terrorists to go "dark." The software runs secretly on smartphones, shedding light on what their owners are doing. Other companies provide similar software.

Hulio co-founded the company in 2010. NSO also offers other tools that locate where a phone is being used, defend against drones and mine law enforcement data to spot patterns.

NSO has been implicated by previous reports and lawsuits in other hacks, including a reported hack of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2018. A Saudi dissident sued the company in 2018 for its alleged role in hacking a device belonging to journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who had been murdered inside the Saudi embassy in Turkey that year.

New Yorker coverage details some of NSO Group's inner workings, including its argument that Pegasus is similar to military equipment that countries routinely sell to other countries, the company's tight ties to the Israeli government and its recent financial difficulties. It also revealed that NSO employees posted on the wall a detailed Google analysis of one Pegasus attack mechanism that concludes its NSO's abilities "rival those previously thought to be accessible to only a handful of nation states."

In the case of the Thai activists, NSO Group didn't comment specifically but told the Washington Post, "Politically motivated organizations continue to make unverifiable claims against NSO."

What is Pegasus?

Pegasus is NSO's best-known product. It can be installed remotely without a surveillance target ever having to open a document or website link, according to The Washington Post. Pegasus reveals all to the NSO customers who control it — text messages, photos, emails, videos, contact lists — and can record phone calls. It can also secretly turn on a phone's microphone and cameras to create new recordings, The Washington Post said.

General security practices like updating your software and using two-factor authentication can help keep mainstream hackers at bay, but protection is really hard when expert, well-funded attackers concentrate their resources on an individual. And Pegasus installations have employed "zero click" attacks that take advantage of vulnerabilities in software like Apple Messages or Meta's WhatsApp to silently install software. 

Pegasus isn't supposed to be used to go after activists, journalists and politicians. "NSO Group licenses its products only to government intelligence and law enforcement agencies for the sole purpose of preventing and investigating terror and serious crime," the company says on its website. "Our vetting process goes beyond legal and regulatory requirements to ensure the lawful use of our technology as designed."

Human rights group Amnesty International, however, documents in detail how it traced compromised smartphones to NSO Group. Citizen Lab said it independently validated Amnesty International's conclusions after examining phone backup data and since 2021 has expanded its Pegasus investigations.

In September, though, Apple fixed a security hole that Pegasus exploited for installation on iPhones. Malware often uses collections of such vulnerabilities to gain a foothold on a device and then expand privileges to become more powerful. NSO Group's software also runs on Android phones.

Why is Pegasus in the news?

Forbidden Stories, a Paris journalism nonprofit, and Amnesty International, a human rights group, shared with 17 news organizations a list of more than 50,000 phone numbers for people believed to be of interest to NSO customers.

The news sites confirmed the identities of many of the individuals on the list and infections on their phones. Of data from 67 phones on the list, 37 exhibited signs of Pegasus installation or attempted installation, according to The Washington Post. Of those 37 phones, 34 were Apple iPhones.

The list of 50,000 phone numbers included 10 prime ministers, three presidents and a king, according to an international investigation released in mid-July by The Washington Post and other media outlets, though there's no proof that being on the list means an NSO attack was attempted or successful.

The episode hasn't helped Apple's reputation when it comes to device security. "We take any attack on our users very seriously," Federighi said. The company said it'll donate $10 million and any damages from the lawsuit to organizations that are advocating for privacy and are pursuing research on online surveillance. That's a drop in the bucket for Apple, which reported a profit of $20.5 billion for its most recent quarter, but it can be significant for much smaller organizations, like Citizen Lab.

Whose phones did Pegasus infect?

In April, Citizen Lab also revealed that Pegasus infected the phones of at least 51 people in the Catalonia region of Spain. NSO Group Chief Executive Shalev Hulio told The New Yorker, which covered the hacks in depth, that Spain has procedures to ensure such use is legal, but Citizen Lab said Pegasus attacks targeted the phone of Jordi Solé, a pro-independence member of the European Parliament, digital security researcher Elies Campo and Campo's parents, according to the New Yorker. Catalonia is seeking political independence from Spain, but Spanish police have cracked down on the independence movement.

In addition to Mangin, two journalists at Hungarian investigative outlet Direkt36 had infected phones, The Guardian reported. 

A Pegasus attack was launched on the phone of Hanan Elatr, wife of murdered Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi, The Washington Post said, though it wasn't clear if the attack succeeded. But the spyware did make it onto the phone of Khashoggi's fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, shortly after his death.

Seven people in India were found with infected phones, including five journalists and one adviser to the opposition party critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, The Washington Post said.

And six people working for Palestinian human rights groups had Pegasus-infected phones, Citizen Lab reported in November.

What are the consequences of the Pegasus situation?

The US cut off NSO Group as a customer of US products, a serious move given that the company needs computer processors, phones and developer tools that often come from US companies. NSO "supplied spyware to foreign governments" that used it to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics and embassy workers. These tools have also enabled foreign governments to conduct transnational repression," the Commerce Department said.

Apple sued NSO Group  in November, seeking to bar the company's software from being used on Apple devices, require NSO to locate and delete any private data its app collected, and disclose the profits from the operations. "Private companies developing state-sponsored spyware have become even more dangerous," said Apple software chief Craig Federighi. That suit came after Meta's WhatsApp sued NSO Group in 2019.

French President Emmanuel Macron changed one of his mobile phone numbers and requested new security checks after his number appeared on the list of 50,000 numbers, Politico reported. He convened a national security meeting to discuss the issue. Macron also raised Pegasus concerns with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, calling for the country to investigate NSO and Pegasus, The Guardian reported. The Israeli government must approve export licenses for Pegasus.

Israel created a review commission to look into the Pegasus situation. And on July 28, Israeli defense authorities inspected NSO offices in person.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said if the allegations are verified, that Pegasus use is "completely unacceptable." She added, "Freedom of media, free press is one of the core values of the EU."

The Nationalist Congress Party in India demanded an investigation of Pegasus use.

Edward Snowden, who in 2013 leaked information about US National Security Agency surveillance practices, called for a ban on spyware sales in an interview with The Guardian. He argued that such tools otherwise will soon be used to spy on millions of people. "When we're talking about something like an iPhone, they're all running the same software around the world. So if they find a way to hack one iPhone, they've found a way to hack all of them," Snowden said.

What does NSO have to say about this?

NSO acknowledges its software can be misused. It cut off two customers in recent 12 months because of concerns about human rights abuses, according to The Washington Post. "To date, NSO has rejected over US $300 million in sales opportunities as a result of its human rights review processes," the company said in a June transparency report.

However, NSO strongly challenges any link to the list of phone numbers. "There is no link between the 50,000 numbers to NSO Group or Pegasus," the company said in a statement.

"Every allegation about misuse of the system is concerning me," Hulio told the Post. "It violates the trust that we give customers. We are investigating every allegation."

In a statement, NSO denied "false claims" about Pegasus that it said were "based on misleading interpretation of leaked data." Pegasus "cannot be used to conduct cybersurveillance within the United States," the company added.

Regarding the alleged infection of State Department phones, NSO Group didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. But it told Reuters it canceled relevant accounts, is investigating, and will take legal action if it finds misuse.

NSO will try to reverse the US government's sanction. "We look forward to presenting the full information regarding how we have the world's most rigorous compliance and human rights programs that are based the American values we deeply share, which already resulted in multiple terminations of contacts with government agencies that misused our products," an NSO spokesperson said.

In the past, NSO had also blocked Saudi Arabia, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and some Mexican government agencies from using the software, The Washington Post reported.

How can I tell if my phone has been infected?

Amnesty International released an open-source utility called MVT (Mobile Verification Toolkit) that's designed to detect traces of Pegasus. The software runs on a personal computer and analyzes data including backup files exported from an iPhone or Android phone.

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Can Facebook be broken up? What you need to know

Can Facebook be broken up? What you need to know

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wields so much power that even one of the social network's co-founders thinks it's both "unprecedented" and "un-American."

Chris Hughes, who co-founded Facebook with Zuckerberg while they were students at Harvard, called for the social network to be broken up in an op-ed published Thursday by The New York Times. "I'm angry that his focus on growth led him to sacrifice security and civility for clicks," Hughes wrote, referring to Facebook's boss and major shareholder. "I'm disappointed in myself and the early Facebook team for not thinking more about how the News Feed algorithm could change our culture, influence elections and empower nationalist leaders."

Facebook's rapid growth has been fueled by acquisitions, including Instagram and WhatsApp, a messaging service. Critics and experts say Facebook simply purchased its competition, rather than innovating to meet the challenges they posed.

"Their whole business model is to identify potential threats and then buy them or beat them in some way," said Stephen Diamond, an associate professor of law at Santa Clara University School of Law.

And Facebook has been called out for not doing enough to combat election meddling, misinformation and hate speech. Its enormous power, critics argue, needs to be kept in check. Facebook doesn't want to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp.

Here's what you need to know:

Who wants Facebook broken up? Why?

Calls to break up Facebook aren't new. But it is startling to hear one of the company's co-founders call for such an extreme measure. Hughes argues that Zuckerberg holds so much power that even the company's board of directors can't keep him accountable. Zuckerberg controls around 60 percent of Facebook's voting shares, which means the board technically can't fire him even if he messes up.

Hughes isn't alone. Advocacy groups, including the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Color of Change and Common Sense Media, have previously asked the Federal Trade Commission, the agency that enforces antitrust law, to make Instagram and WhatsApp separate companies. A split would also make it easier for other social media companies to compete with Facebook, the organizations argue.

In addition, a group called Freedom from Facebook has called on the FTC to force Facebook to spin off its Messenger service too.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts who's also a presidential candidate, is among the lawmakers who want to break up Facebook, as well as other tech giants, including Google and Amazon.

How would Facebook be broken up?

One way to break up Facebook would be for the federal government to file a lawsuit against the company, arguing it stifles competition. That could prompt a negotiation between the parties that could lead to Facebook agreeing to make itself smaller.

Another alternative would be for Congress to pass a law covering tech monopolies. Warren has proposed such a law, which would require tech platforms that take in $25 billion or more in sales to "structurally separate" their products. Amazon, for example, would have to spin off its house brand Amazon Basics. Warren said that if she won the presidential election her administration would also appoint regulators to unwind the mergers of Instagram and WhatsApp from Facebook.

What does Facebook think about the idea?

Facebook has pushed back, arguing that breaking up the company wouldn't hold the social network more accountable for its actions. Instead, Facebook has called for more internet regulation around harmful content, election integrity, privacy and data portability.

"Accountability of tech companies can only be achieved through the painstaking introduction of new rules for the internet," Nick Clegg, Facebook's vice president of global affairs and communications, said in a statement Thursday. The social network also said that having Instagram and WhatsApp under Facebook helps them fight spam, election meddling and crime. Facebook says it has plenty of competition, pointing to YouTube, Snapchat, iMessage and WeChat, among others.

Clegg touched on all those points in a Saturday editorial in The New York Times.

Have tech companies been broken up in the past?

Yes, but it's unusual. In 1974, the US Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T but the matter wasn't settled until eight years later. The telephone company was required to spin off two-thirds of its assets into separate companies, according to a 1982 article from The Washington Post. The government has also tried to break up Microsoft and in 2000 a US federal judge ordered that the tech giant split into two companies. Microsoft appealed and the decision was reversed.

What would this mean for users of Facebook?

Facebook is trying to integrate its messaging services so users of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp can send messages to one another without switching apps. Splitting up the companies might prevent that from happening.

Those who want the government to break Facebook up argue the move would fuel more competition among social media companies, which could mean more options for consumers. About 2.7 billion people use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or Messenger every month.

Diamond said that breaking up Facebook could also lead to the company stepping up its privacy efforts to match its social media competitors.

What are the chances this happens?

The FTC declined to comment on whether it's looking to break up Facebook. But if history is any indication, it would be a rare move.

"I doubt there is sufficient political momentum to break up Facebook," Diamond said. "I'm skeptical, even though I think there might be good reasons to do it."

Originally published May 10, 5:40 a.m. PT.
Update, May 11: Adds mention of Facebook VP Nick Clegg's Saturday editorial in the Times.

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Facebook Portal Plus review: A decent video-chat display marred by its maker

Facebook Portal Plus review: A decent video-chat display marred by its maker

In 2019 we reviewed Facebook's Portal, Portal Plus and Portal TV devices, video chatting displays and cameras that included fun AR, but left us scratching our head about their real practicality. We didn't feel comfortable recommending them due to Facebook's questionable data privacy issues in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica breach. 

Fast-forward to today and things haven't improved for Facebook. Despite continued investigations into how Facebook uses and shares data, the company is pressing forward with new, camera-focused hardware. The $350 Portal Plus is Facebook's most expensive display. The 14-inch touchscreen comes with AR features, video chatting and a handful of streaming music and media services. Alexa is built in for smart home commands and general knowledge inquiries. 

Molly Price/CNET

Even without the dark cloud of Facebook's branding hovering over the Portal Plus, it isn't a device worthy of anyone's $350. Apps are limited, controls aren't always intuitive and the dual-assistant setup of "Hey, Portal" and Alexa doesn't simplify anything. For the same (or likely less) money, you'd be better off with a tablet and folio stand or a smart display, depending on your wants and needs.

I've included two charts at the end of this review comparing tablets, displays and Portals. For now, let's dive into the details of the Portal Plus. One note: I reviewed the new, $200 Portal Go alongside this larger model and the two are extremely similar save for a few details of the physical design and of course the size and price. For that reason, several sections in this review are similar to my observations about the Portal Go. 

The Portal Plus is large and looks good displaying my favorite photos.

Molly Price/CNET

Design

The Portal Plus' second generation has an entirely different look than the first. It's sleeker, with a slightly smaller 14-inch display with a 2,160x1,440-pixel resolution mounted on a rectangular speaker base. You can tilt the display up or down. A physical camera shutter and mute button offer manual privacy for the 12-megapixel front-facing camera that has a 131-degree field of view and will pan and zoom to keep you in frame.

Beneath the fabric base, a four-mic array listens for your "Hey, Portal," "Hey, Facebook" or, "Hey, Alexa" commands. Two 5-watt full range speakers and one 20-watt woofer put out plenty of sound for music, video streaming and chatting. The Portal Plus uses what Facebook calls "Smart Sound" AI to reduce background noise for the person speaking to Portal. 

The first-gen Portal Plus was big and bulky, but its screen could rotate. 

James Martin/CNET

The design is a sure improvement over the bulky, original Portal Plus. However, this screen can't rotate between landscape and portrait orientations. 

Features

Nearly everything about the Portal Plus is identical to the Portal Go, only on a larger and corded scale. The limited amount of apps available on these two devices is a disappointment. These new Portals just doesn't do as much as any tablet or smart display and the Portal Plus costs more than many of those. There are so few apps (24 to be exact) that I can list them all right here. If I tried to do that with a tablet, Amazon Echo skills or Google Nest compatible apps and devices we would need a bigger internet. Here's the full list, in alphabetical order:

• Alexa
• BlueJeans
• Browser
• Calendar
• CBS News
• Deezer
• Facebook Live
• Food Network
• GoToMeeting
• iHeartRadio
• Newsy
• Pandora
• Photo Booth
• Plex
• Red Bull TV
• SideChef
• Spotify
• Story Time
• Tidal Music
• Watch
• Webex Meetings
• Workplace
• Workplace Live
• Zoom

The odd thing about this list is what's not on it. There aren't apps for Facebook, Instagram, Messenger or WhatsApp. Instead, features from those apps are built into various parts of the Portal experience. You can link your Instagram account to display your Instagram feed photos on the Portal Plus' ambient screen. Messenger chat rooms are used when you video-call your contacts. You can use WhatsApp to set up the Portal instead of Facebook (but doing so will disable the "Hey, Portal" voice integration). 

I asked Facebook representatives why these in-house apps aren't available. Here's what they had to say:

The core use for Portal is video calling and to make it easier for people to connect with their family, friends and colleagues. You can use the web browser on Portal to access your favorite Facebook apps. People have other devices they typically use for browsing Facebook, Instagram, etc.

That makes sense. My first instinct wouldn't be to scroll Instagram on a display that isn't handheld like my phone or tablet. I probably also wouldn't choose to hunt and peck on a vertical touchscreen to reply to WhatsApp messages. All that to say, just be warned if you think this device primarily for your social media apps -- it isn't. 

Facebook could add more apps to the Portal Plus with future updates. Smart displays from other brands have taken this approach. I expect this list to expand, but for now these are the only for apps available on the Portal Plus. 

Video chatting

You can video chat with BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, Webex, Workplace and Zoom. Support for Microsoft Teams is in the works for later this year. Video-calling your contacts begins in the Contacts app, where you'll create a Messenger room in order to chat. The contacts available here are pulled from the WhatsApp or Facebook account you used to set up the Portal. However, if someone you want to call doesn't have a Facebook or Messenger account, you can send them a link to join the room. 

The Portal Plus's AR camera and Story Time are the headlining features of this device. When you're in a video call, tapping the Experiences button brings up a menu to access Story Time, Photo Casting, Watch Together or Effects. This is where you'll find fun filters and special effect backgrounds. 

Here's a collection of the weird and wacky filters you'll find in the Portal Plus Photo Booth app and in Messenger room effects.

Molly Price/CNET

Open Story Time during a call (or on your own without a call ongoing) and you'll find stories with filters and special effects that interact with the person in front of the camera. The story text appears in the top left corner of the screen and little instructions pop up here and there to show you how to initiate some special effects.

Stories include popular series like Dr. Seuss, Pete the Cat, Llama Llama, Todd Parr and Jon Burgerman. You can also select classics like Three Little Pigs, Itsy Bitsy Spider and Little Red Riding Hood. Story Time is the most fun you can have on Portal. I just wish it were available as an app on third-party devices like tablets or other displays.

Privacy

We can't really review Facebook hardware without pointing out the ongoing saga of Facebook's data and privacy issues. Dig deeper into the Portal privacy features here if you like, but these are the big takeaways.

The Portal Plus is listening for the "Hey, Portal" or "Hey, Facebook" wake word. If it detects the phrase, Portal sends a transcript and recording of that voice interaction to Facebook. Those "Hey, Portal" and "Hey, Facebook" transactions are kept on Facebook's servers for up to three years, while "false wakes" are deleted within 90 days of detection. That's if you don't take any action. If you choose to, you can review and delete your voice interactions in the Portal Plus's settings. 

You could choose to disable voice interaction recording entirely in the device's settings, but it is turned on by default. If you only connect your Portal to WhatsApp on initial setup, "Hey, Portal" won't work at all, thanks to WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption. 

A physical camera shutter and mute button add some peace of mind. A red light indicates the microphone is muted. The Portal Plus's camera uses AI technology that is processed locally, not on Facebook servers. The camera doesn't have any facial recognition abilities. 

A physical shutter, red light and on-screen notification let you know the camera and microphones are turned off.

Molly Price/CNET

Better options

There are two ways you could approach Portal Plus alternatives, but you need to know what exactly you're after. If you're looking for a device that's great for streaming video, has thousands of apps, including social media, get a tablet.

There are plenty of 10- to 15-inch tablets available that provide a big enough screen and a good camera. Nearly any model from Samsung, Amazon or Apple will give you more features, processing power, apps for streaming and social media platforms. Treat yourself to an Apple Pencil or S Pen for Apple or Samsung models, and you've got even more options.

If you're looking for an Alexa-focused smart home screen, the Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 10 are both far better (and often more affordable) options with broader apps for streaming and video chatting. Both are often available for less than the Portal Plus' $350 list price.

The following charts compare popular tablets and smart displays with Portal Plus and Portal Go.

Portals vs. tablets

	Portal Go	Portal Plus	Galaxy Tab A7	Amazon Fire HD 10	iPad (2021)
Price	$200	$350	$650	$150	from $329
Screen size	10.1 inches	14 inches	11 inches	10.1 inches	10.2 inches
Resolution	1,280x800	2,160x1,440	2,560x1,600	1,920x1,200	2,160x1,620
Camera	12 megapixels	12 megapixels	8 megapixels front, 13 and 5 megapixels rear	2 megapixels front, 5 megapixels rear	12 megapixels front, 8 megapixels rear
Physical shutter	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Field of view	125 degrees	131 degrees	80 degrees	Not listed	122 degrees
Portable	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Kid mode	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Limited (Guided Access)
Video apps	Zoom, Webex, BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, Workplace	Zoom, Webex, BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, Workplace	All available from the Google Play Store	All available from the Amazon app store	All available from the App Store
Music apps	Deezer, Pandora, Spotify, Tidal, iHeartRadio	Deezer, Pandora, Spotify, Tidal, iHeartRadio	All available from the Google Play Store	All available from the Amazon Appstore	All available from the App Store
Streaming apps	Facebook Watch, Red Bull TV, Food Network, Facebook Live, CBS News, Plex	Facebook Watch, Red Bull TV, Food Network, Facebook Live, CBS News, Plex	All available from the Google Play Store	All available from the Amazon Appstore	All available from the App Store
Smart home compatibility	Alexa	Alexa	Alexa app, Google Assistant app	Alexa	Siri, Alexa app, Google Assistant app
Internet browser	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Portals vs. smart displays

	Portal Go	Portal Plus	Nest Hub Max	Echo Show 8	Echo Show 10
Price	$200	$350	$229	$100	$250
Screen size	10.1 inches	14 inches	10 inches	8 inches	10.1 inches
Resolution	1,280x800	2,160x1,440	1,280x800	1,280x800	1,280x800
Camera	12 megapixels	12 megapixels	6.5 megapixels	13 megapixels	13 megapixels
Physical shutter	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Field of view	125 degrees	131 degrees	127 degrees	110 degrees	110 degrees
Portable	Yes	No	No	No	No
Kid mode	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Video apps	Zoom, Webex, BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, Workplace	Zoom, Webex, BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, Workplace	Zoom, Google Duo	Zoom, Skype, Chime	Zoom, Skype, Chime
Music apps	Deezer, Pandora, Spotify, Tidal, iHeartRadio	Deezer, Pandora, Spotify, Tidal, iHeartRadio	Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, Deezer	Apple music, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, Audible, SiriusXM, Headspace, NPR and more	Apple music, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, Audible, SiriusXM, Headspace, NPR and more
Streaming apps	Facebook Watch, Red Bull TV, Food Network, Facebook Live, CBS News, Plex	Facebook Watch, Red Bull TV, Food Network, Facebook Live, CBS News, Plex	Netflix, Youtube, CW, HBONow, Starz, Red Bull TV, Crackle	Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Food Network, Red Bull TV, Tubi	Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Food Network, Red Bull TV, Tubi
Smart home compatibility	Alexa	Alexa	Google	Alexa	Alexa
Internet browser	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes

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