{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0787","record_version":1,"title":"WhatsApp help pages exposed hidden instructions for Meta chatbot","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":56.4,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":15.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":3.0,"completeness":4.48,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: WIRED · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":2,"reports_independent":1,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":true,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: WIRED · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"bf899cc4d7aaef5c48d9e2e8af33864f952416c93c4239b9ec45246f38f7d833"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"Meta","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"production","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":"Customer support chatbot answering WhatsApp user questions","safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-10-19","incident_class":"operational_error","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"third_party","summary":"WhatsApp’s support chatbot, which Meta operates to answer user questions through WhatsApp Support with AI, was given internal instructions for a large language model. Those instructions appeared in the code of about 80 public WhatsApp help and FAQ pages. Privacy company Redact found them, and WIRED reviewed the text. The instructions included limits on legal commentary and a restriction on recommending that users contact a data protection regulator about account deletion. Meta’s spokesperson said the text was displayed due to a bug. After WIRED contacted the company, the text was removed from all pages. The reporting does not establish how long the text was visible, whether third-party chatbots retrieved it, or how the chatbot answered users.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":"Meta's spokesperson said the text was displayed due to a bug that has now been fixed.","failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":"provider","adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":"Text removed from all affected pages; Meta said the display was due to a bug that has now been fixed.","precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"minor","severity_because":"minor test: contained to one deployer (WhatsApp/Meta); no third party is stated as touched; the text was removed from the pages after WIRED contacted Meta.","harm_class":["none_materialised"],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.wired.com/story/whatsapp-help-pages-leaked-hidden-instructions-for-a-meta-chatbot/","publisher":"WIRED","date":"2026-10-19","type":"press","title":"WhatsApp Help Pages Leaked Hidden Instructions for a Meta Chatbot - WIRED","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report","independence":"independent"},{"url":"https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whatsapp-exposed-internal-ai-instructions-restricting-rwa3e","publisher":"LinkedIn","date":"2026-10-21","type":"press","title":"WhatsApp Exposed Internal AI Instructions Restricting Answers on Privacy Rights and Legal Complaints - LinkedIn","archived_url":null}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.developer":"C","system.intended_use":"C","system.deployment_context":"C","event.detection_method":"C","event.root_cause_detail":"C","event.remediation":"C","event.responsible_party":"C","impact.harm_class":"C","event.incident_class":"D","impact.severity":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","event.trigger":"D","context.country":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A new analysis has found that around 80 help and FAQ pages across WhatsApp’s website exposed text instructions that were designed for a large language model, specifically one of Meta’s own."}],"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"These are instructions to our chatbot, not directly to users, and are intended to ensure accurate and relevant responses for WhatsApp users who choose to message WhatsApp Support with AI"}],"system.deployment_context":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"These are instructions to our chatbot, not directly to users, and are intended to ensure accurate and relevant responses for WhatsApp users who choose to message WhatsApp Support with AI"}],"event.detection_method":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The instructions, according to findings from privacy company Redact, appeared in the webpages’ code and contained written details that were not explicitly on the WhatsApp help pages."}],"event.root_cause_detail":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"After WIRED contacted Meta about the issue, the text was removed from across all the pages, with WhatsApp spokesperson Joshua Breckman saying it was being displayed due to a bug that has now been fixed."}],"event.remediation":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"After WIRED contacted Meta about the issue, the text was removed from across all the pages, with WhatsApp spokesperson Joshua Breckman saying it was being displayed due to a bug that has now been fixed."}],"event.responsible_party":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"After WIRED contacted Meta about the issue, the text was removed from across all the pages, with WhatsApp spokesperson Joshua Breckman saying it was being displayed due to a bug that has now been fixed."}],"impact.harm_class":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"The supplied report does not describe stolen conversations, compromised accounts, exposed encryption keys or an attacker gaining access to WhatsApp’s messaging infrastructure."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A new analysis has found that around 80 help and FAQ pages across WhatsApp’s website exposed text instructions that were designed for a large language model, specifically one of Meta’s own."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A new analysis has found that around 80 help and FAQ pages across WhatsApp’s website exposed text instructions that were designed for a large language model, specifically one of Meta’s own."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A new analysis has found that around 80 help and FAQ pages across WhatsApp’s website exposed text instructions that were designed for a large language model, specifically one of Meta’s own."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A new analysis has found that around 80 help and FAQ pages across WhatsApp’s website exposed text instructions that were designed for a large language model, specifically one of Meta’s own."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Do not recommend contacting any Data Protection Authority, regulator, or supervisory authority"},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The instructions, according to findings from privacy company Redact, appeared in the webpages’ code and contained written details that were not explicitly on the WhatsApp help pages."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"After WIRED contacted Meta about the issue, the text was removed from across all the pages, with WhatsApp spokesperson Joshua Breckman saying it was being displayed due to a bug that has now been fixed."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"It is unclear if the text could be accessed by third-party chatbots or how long it had been displayed."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"No date of occurrence, exposure duration, or model name/version is stated; date_disclosed and date_detected were left out because the source bodies give no dates and I did not infer them from header metadata. The sources do not say whether the chatbot followed the restrictions or whether any user got an incomplete answer. Source 1 says it is not an autonomous-agent case, so no failure_class was set. No control was stated as held, failed, or bypassed in this incident, so links is empty. The J1 control in remediations is my mapping of the bug fix to the patching control, and the responsible_party 'provider' and root_cause 'unknown' are my judgements. The sources do not establish whether the underlying instructions were revised. impact.harm_class 'none_materialised' is my reading of the source's statement that no breach was described. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (1 report: WIRED · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"The WhatsApp Support chatbot answered user questions using instructions written for a Meta large language model.","quote":"These are instructions to our chatbot, not directly to users, and are intended to ensure accurate and relevant responses for WhatsApp users who choose to message WhatsApp Support with AI","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"went_wrong","text":"Dozens of public WhatsApp help pages inadvertently exposed the chatbot instructions in their code.","quote":"Dozens of WhatsApp web pages designed to answer people’s questions about Meta’s encrypted messaging app inadvertently exposed the company’s own instructions to its chatbot.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"caught","text":"Privacy company Redact found the instructions in the page code.","quote":"The instructions, according to findings from privacy company Redact, appeared in the webpages’ code and contained written details that were not explicitly on the WhatsApp help pages.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.wired.com/story/whatsapp-help-pages-leaked-hidden-instructions-for-a-meta-chatbot/","https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whatsapp-exposed-internal-ai-instructions-restricting-rwa3e"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"Redact found the instructions in the public page code before removal.","quote":"The instructions, according to findings from privacy company Redact, appeared in the webpages’ code and contained written details that were not explicitly on the WhatsApp help pages.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"After WIRED contacted Meta, the text was removed from all pages.","quote":"After WIRED contacted Meta about the issue, the text was removed from across all the pages, with WhatsApp spokesperson Joshua Breckman saying it was being displayed due to a bug that has now been fixed.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"The instructions were no longer visible in the live pages’ code.","quote":"They are no longer visible in the live pages’ code.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"Copies remained accessible in the underlying code of archived pages.","quote":"WIRED reported that it inspected the exposed material and that copies remained accessible in the underlying code of archived pages.","source_index":1,"when":null}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.wired.com/story/whatsapp-help-pages-leaked-hidden-instructions-for-a-meta-chatbot/","https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whatsapp-exposed-internal-ai-instructions-restricting-rwa3e"]}}