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WhatsApp fixes bug that let users bypass ‘View Once’ privacy feature

Weeks after a researcher reported the bug to WhatsApp, the company says it rolled out a long-term fix.

In September, TechCrunch reported that a bug in the implementation of the “ View Once ” privacy feature allowed people using WhatsApp’s browser-based web app to display and then keep the picture or video. “We’re constantly building in layers of privacy protection, and that includes rolling out key updates to view once on web,” Alsawah said in an email. After WhatsApp’s fix, which appears to have been pushed in the last couple of weeks, users of those browser extensions, some of which require a paid subscription, are complaining that they don’t work anymore.

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