DW Akademie: From encryption to influence – WhatsApp’s role in shaping public discourse

With more than three billion monthly active users, WhatsApp is one of the most widely used messaging platforms in the world. Many of us rely on it on a daily basis to share personal updates, intimate conversations, and sensitive information – trusting its encryption to keep our data safe and private. But how secure is our communication, really?

In their book, WhatsApp in the World, media scholars Prof. Sahana Udupa and CINIA Director Prof. Herman Wasserman offer the first systematic global study of WhatsApp as an encrypted instant messaging service. Rather than treating encryption as a purely technical safeguard, they introduce the concept of “lived encryptions” – exploring how encryption is experienced, interpreted, and sometimes exploited in different cultural and political contexts.

Speakers:

• Herman Wasserman – Director of the Centre for Information Integrity in Africa, Stellenbosch University.
• Sahana Udupa – Professor of Media Anthropology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
• Oliver Linow – DW Internet Freedom Specialist / IT and Cybersecurity 

Host:

• Steffen Leidel – Senior Consultant Africa, DW Akademie.