While the Cambridge Analytica scandal cost Facebook a bunch of subscribers, its offshoots like WhatsApp or Instagram were largely spared. The sheer magnitude of the user private data misuse, however, forced WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum to leave Facebook that year.
Facebook purchased WhatsApp for the insane at the time $21 billion, hoping to capitalize on platform integration but still hasn't done much on that front, plus it has been on and off in hot water over privacy issues ever since.
WhatsApp itself has been in a privacy conundrum or two, and now the security researcher Athul Jayaram has found a big that will index your WhatsApp-associated phone number with Google's search engine.
WhatsApp's Click to Chat feature lets Google search index your phone number
According to Threatpost, where Mr Jayaram shared his observations, when someone uses the Click to Chat option on their website to start a messaging session, the associated phone number is revealed in plain text, as Google would index the code and display the number in its search results.
Your mobile number is visible in plain text in this URL, and anyone who gets hold of the URL can know your mobile number. You cannot revoke it. As individual phone numbers are leaked, an attacker can message them, call them, sell their phone numbers to marketers, spammers, scammers...
Through the WhatsApp profile, they can see the profile photo of the user, and a do reverse-image search to find their other social-media accounts and discover a lot more about about [a targeted individual]
Probed to comment on the matter, WhatsApp basically said that this is not a big deal, as the users have opted to exchange their business phone numbers for convenience:
While we appreciate this researcher’s report and value the time that he took to share it with us, it did not qualify for a bounty since it merely contained a search engine index of URLs that WhatsApp users chose to make public. All WhatsApp users, including businesses, can block unwanted messages with the tap of a button.
A more elegant option that site owners can do to prevent Click to Chat users from acquiring their phone numbers, according to Mr Jayaram, is to first, encrypt their phone numbers, and then add the infamous robots.txt string to basically tell Google that this info can't be indexed.
Hey there! I saw your warning about that WhatsApp chat option, and yeah, it’s a heads-up worth noting—opting into stuff like that can definitely plaster your phone number across Google’s search results for anyone to snag. WhatsApp’s got those sneaky settings that can accidentally turn your private digits into public bait if you’re not careful. But here’s the kicker: even without that feature, tracking someone down via their phone number isn’t exactly rocket science these days. The digital world’s so stitched together that a number alone can unlock a treasure trove of info—social media profiles, usernames, you name it—without much sweat.
I’ve been down this rabbit hole myself, curious about how exposed we all are. Tools and tricks floating around can sniff out your Facebook, Instagram, or even LinkedIn if your number’s tied to them, privacy settings or not. It’s wild how a single string of digits can breadcrumb its way across platforms. For instance, syncing a number to Messenger or WhatsApp can spill the beans if the account’s linked, and that’s just the basics. The real magic happens with OSINT—Open-Source Intelligence—where public data gets pieced together like a puzzle. Someone savvy could map out your whole online vibe without you ever toggling that WhatsApp option.
If you’re intrigued—or maybe a little paranoid now—I’d recommend checking out this awesome article on X-Ray Contact’s blog about how to search person by phone number on Facebookhttps://x-ray.contact/blog/how-to-search-by-phone-number-on-facebook/ It’s a deep dive into finding someone on FB with just their number, even with 2025’s tighter privacy walls. I tried their tips once to reconnect with an old pal—plugged his number into a sync trick, and bam, his profile popped up, no Google needed. The piece breaks down practical steps, like using Facebook’s own tools or pivoting to other platforms, and it’s eye-opening how much is still out there. Give it a read—it’ll either empower you or make you double-check your own settings! What’s your take—think we’re all just one click from being found anyway?
