@jj @hhardy01 note, when I said non-tech journalist I'm referring to the Forbes article that started this speculation.

Agreed that the WhatsApp defaults are bad for truly secure usage. Not just the backup option but also notifications of fingerprint changes defaulting to off.

Use Signal if you really want to be secure. They make tradeoffs in favor of security, nit convenience - eg not allowing backup on iOS because Apple doesn't allow local backups