After four months of being held captive by Hamas, their families received a message today (Wednesday) that their loved ones had "left" the WhatsApp groups they were members of, Channel 14 reported.
Meta's policy - the owner of WhatsApp - as advertised on their website: "WhatsApp accounts are typically deleted after 120 days of inactivity to maintain security, limit data retention, and protect user privacy."
It was also noted: "Content stored locally on the device before deleting the account will remain there until WhatsApp deletes it from the device. When the user registers the same device with WhatsApp again, the locally stored content will reappear."
The deletion of the accounts meant that many WhatsApp groups in which the kidnapped people were members received a notification that they had left the group, even though they were not active on their account at all.
As explained, this happens automatically.
Gil Dikman, cousin of Carmel Gat, who was kidnapped on October 7 and is being held captive by Hamas, posted today on his Twitter account: "After 4 months in captivity, suddenly they leave the group – they will return. They must return.
"It's an automatic WhatsApp mechanism, and it happened simultaneously on thousands of phones of families of kidnapped people and bereaved families since October 7."
After 4 months in captivity, they suddenly leave the group.
They will return. They must return.
(This is an automatic WhatsApp mechanism, and it happened simultaneously on thousands of phones of kidnapped families and bereaved families from 7/10) pic.twitter.com/CRtd9oRnL1
— Gil Dickmann (@gildickmann) February 7, 2024
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