Meta rolls out 'Strict Account Settings' amid privacy lawsuit

WhatsApp is introducing a new security feature called Strict Account Settings designed to protect users from cyberattacks. The company, which is owned by Meta, stated that the new feature will be rolling out in the coming weeks. The optional setting is intended to reduce user vulnerability by restricting certain app functionalities, particularly for high-risk users such as journalists and public figures.

According to the company, the lockdown-styled feature locks a user’s account to more private settings and places limitations on chats with people outside their contacts. When enabled, the Strict Account Settings feature automatically applies several restrictions:

• Automatically blocking media and attachments from unknown senders
• Silencing calls from unknown numbers
• Turning off link previews
• Switching on the setting to block a high number of unknown messages

When a user enables this option, several default security protocols are automatically activated. For instance, two-step verification is turned on by default, alongside security notifications that alert the user if the security code of a contact changes. Additionally, the feature restricts visibility of the user’s last seen status, online status, profile photo, and about details, locking them so they are only visible to contacts. Links on the user’s profile are also restricted, and only contacts or pre-selected individuals from the contact list can add the user to group chats.

The company described the feature as an optional, lockdown-style security setting that reduces vulnerability to cyberattacks by limiting functionality when enabled, locking the account to more private settings and placing limitations on chats with people outside the user’s contacts.

Users can activate the setting from their primary device by navigating to Settings > Privacy > Advanced. Meta noted that users can only change this setting from their primary device and not from companion platforms such as WhatsApp for Web or Windows.

The timing of the rollout comes as Meta faces a lawsuit over alleged false privacy claims regarding WhatsApp’s security protections. The lawsuit alleges that Meta stores, analyzes, and can access virtually all of WhatsApp users’ purportedly ‘private’ communications. Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp, rejected these claims, characterizing the legal action as a “no-merit, headline-seeking lawsuit.”

Why it matters

The release of these security tools highlights the tension between WhatsApp’s efforts to position itself as a secure platform and the ongoing legal scrutiny regarding its actual data handling practices.