WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Even online live video service Skype did poorly, scoring just 40, despite the parent company Microsoft’s commitment to ensuring consumer privacy, the release noted.
"[Amnesty International’s] new ‘Message Privacy Ranking’ assesses the 11 companies with the most popular messaging apps on the way they use encryption to protect users’ privacy and freedom of expression across their messaging apps," a press release explaining the report stated.
No company provided watertight protection, but Facebook, whose apps Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp together have 2 billion users, had the highest score with 73 out of 100, according to the release.
Apple was close behind, scoring 67 out of 100, providing full end-to-end encryption in all communications on its iMessage and Facetime apps, Amnesty said.
However, the release encouraged Apple to do more by making its customers aware that SMS messages are less secure than iMessages.