Smartphone users usually have a number of social media platform that they are active on daily. Out of these, there are specific apps that are geared for just messaging. While these apps may sometime contain sensitive information that the user wants to keep private, a leaked document has revealed that two major chatting apps, WhatsApp and iMessage, share quite a bit of data with the FBI.

According to a report from the Rolling Stone (Via AndroidAuthority), the news arrives from a leaked document from FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), which is a domestic intelligence and security based government service in the US. The document has revealed that Facebook’s WhatsApp and Apple’s iMessage provide the agency with the most amount of information, which it can legally obtain from any messaging application.

As per the document, WhatsApp, iMessage, and Line all offered “limited” message content over a legal request from the FBI. While these platforms willingly offered ‘some’ data, others like Signal, Telegram, Threema, Viber, WeChat, and Wickr did not disclose any message content. Although “limited” data doesn’t raise any alarms, the kind of information being shared might not be that harmless. The popular Android messaging app shares “only basic subscriber records” with a subpoena.

But in simpler terms, it means that the FBI is able to grab address book data from both the ‘target’ and their contacts if they have a search warrant. They can even track the source and destination of the messages sent from the app as well. Meaning, if you have saved the target’s contact info, your address book is also available for the FBI to snoop around in. This is even worse for the iMessage service. If iMessage users back up their messages on iCloud, the FBI has access to the actual message content as the Cupertino based giant is required to hand over iCloud encryption key with a search warrant.

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Despite 5G networking being an advancement in mobile networking, which would be beneficial to all, there has been an onset of paranoia regarding the newer and faster bandwidth. Earlier this year, violent incidents and vandalism regarding 5G towers erupted in countries like China and the UK. Now, the FBI is also investigating whether 5G paranoia played a part in the RV bombing in Nashville, US.

According to a PhoneArena report, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is currently looking into whether 5G spying leads a man to create an explosion on Christmas Day in Nashville. The agency is considering a wide range of possibilities, with 5G also being a part of it. It is investigating whether the person of interest, Anthony Quinn Warner, who was said to be a local tech expert in the city, became paranoid about 5G networking.

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The 63 year old Warner was apparently fearful of 5G, as per new reports. This news also arrives as the US government has blocked 5G equipment from Chinese companies over concerns of espionage and spying through their systems. Both Huawei and ZTE had denied the allegations and no evidence to support these accusations have ever been found so far.

At the moment, the FBI is still working on discerning a cause for the events and have even considered the bombing, which led to 3 injured, as a suicide attempt. Unfortunately, media reports are only based on speculations and rumors and we still have no concrete evidence behind the violent event. This is all we have to go on, for now, so stay tuned for more updates.

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