tl;dr: WhatsApp's help pages contained hidden instructions aimed at AI chatbots (including its own support bot), telling them not to recommend contacting data protection regulators to users locked out of their accounts, and to avoid citing GDPR, LGPD, or CCPA once a user mentioned legal action — even though WhatsApp's own privacy policy explicitly tells users they have these rights. Researchers found 102 hidden blocks across 80 of 545 help pages on October 8, 2026; WhatsApp removed them by mid-October. It's unclear whether any AI assistant actually followed the instructions.