That Forbes article was wrong: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20587643

Facebook says in a hn post that the article is wrong, but I have no real reason to trust Facebook, given their track record.

> if we ever did it would be quite obvious and detectable that we had done it.

It's running in your device, you don't have to trust them if you have technical skill.

I have little desire to decompile every update and/or constantly analyse what their app is doing. They've proven to be untrustworthy on multiple occasions, and haven't given me much reason to think they've changed.

They might convince me if they open their client and server code, but even then they're yet another walled garden only interested in keeping their monopoly by building inferior products and using regularly capture to prevent any competition from doing the same thing they did to MySpace.

You can't read encrypted packages being sent by the app. The message telemetry could be bundled by the app with other telemetry and you wouldn't know despite your technical skill.

I don't consider a self-serving assurance from a company representative to be conclusive proof.

only if you choose to believe Facebook it was