WhatsApp Chatbot Told: Don't Cite the Law When Asked
From the BBN segment “WhatsApp Help Pages Leaked Hidden Instructions for a Meta Chatbot”, cut down to under a minute.
From the BBN segment “WhatsApp Help Pages Leaked Hidden Instructions for a Meta Chatbot”, cut down to under a minute.
What BBN said on air. The facts are in the original report: Wired.
Hank LedgerAbout eighty WhatsApp help pages exposed instructions written for its chatbot, including a section headed "WHAT NOT TO SAY," Wired reports.
Dale BearmanHidden text blocks in the page code, about a hundred of them. Visitors couldn't see them, but a robot reading the page could.
Dale BearmanIt's a note left for the staff on the shop window.
Hank LedgerSo the page says one thing to me and something else to the chatbot.
Dale BearmanYes. One rule told it not to send people who couldn't delete their accounts to data protection authorities.
Dale BearmanAnother said to avoid citing the privacy rules, even when users mentioned the GDPR.
Hank LedgerDon't mention the law. When someone mentions the law.
Dale BearmanWhatsApp says these are instructions to its chatbot, not to users, and that a bug, now fixed, put them on the pages.
Dale BearmanSo the bug was the only one being open about it.
Hank LedgerHashtag, Dale?
Dale BearmanHashtag Shhh.