Viber is the No. 1 messenger in Ukraine, with 98% of smartphones installed (Kantar Panel Ukraine, 2022). The popularity of the app also gives rise to a significant number of false assumptions and guesses about it. The Rakuten Viber team has collected the most common concerns about using the messenger and explains what you shouldn’t worry about.
Myth #1
My correspondence is monitored by special services, and the entire Viber team sees my personal data. Not to mention phone conversations, which are definitely tapped
Since 2016, all chats and personal calls on Viber have been protected by end-to-end encryption by default, which means that neither third parties nor the Viber team itself has access to the information exchanged between users. Decryption keys are stored only on the phones of the parties to the conversation, making it impossible for anyone to hack this data, including intelligence agencies.
Rakuten Viber is a private company owned by the international Japanese holding company Rakuten and has no ties to any government.
Myth #2
Viber is dangerous and not recommended for use
As mentioned above, end-to-end encryption protects all chats and 1-1 calls from eavesdropping and hacking. By the way, banks and other institutions whose activities involve the exchange of sensitive information use Viber in their business operations, for example, to send passwords and other confidential data to clients.
In addition, all key government agencies in Ukraine have official channels promoted with the support of Viber, including the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense, the National Security and Defense Council, and others.
Myth #3
It’s better not to let your child use Viber, he or she will encounter prohibited content or even buy something illegal
Restricting inappropriate content is one of the guiding principles of Viber. The messenger’s user policy clearly defines the prohibition of malicious messages, including: explicit images of violence in any form, extremist, terrorist, pornographic content, promotion of illegal activities, etc. Such content is manually moderated and removed from the platform’s channels.
That is why Viber is safe for young users and is popular in Ukraine. By the way, Viber is the top 1 messenger for education, according to a survey conducted by Viber and EdEra online education studio in June 2023 (a survey with 3250 teachers in Ukraine).
Myth #4
There is a lot of spam on Viber, everyone sends me messages
Viber adheres to international rules and standards for data use, which means that it does not allow promotional messaging without the permission of the company’s or brand’s customers. If a user receives a message from a brand, it means that they have checked the box in online services or physically and given permission to receive information from a particular brand. Thus, the company sending such messages can use this permission to inform its customers.
For convenience, Viber has created a Business Chats folder where all service messages and newsletters from brands are placed, and they are not mixed with chats of users’ contacts.
As for personal chats, you can easily restrict who can send messages in Viber:
- How to enable message requests (allows you to view and manage message requests from unknown senders in a separate inbox): Open Viber on your phone → Press (Android) (iOS) → Select Settings → Select Privacy → Turn on Requests
- How to block calls from unknown contacts: Open Viber on your phone → Press (Android) (iOS) → Select Settings → Select Calls & messages → Turn on Block unknown contacts. Calls from unknown subscribers will be blocked and displayed in the chat list and the list of recent calls.
Myth #5
Viber has no verified sources of information where I can read really verified news
Many Ukrainian media outlets have their own official channels on Viber so that messenger users always have access to a trusted publication. Moreover, it is convenient to check whether a source is verified in the app: most of the time, it will have a blue “bird” next to its name. Any channel goes through manual moderation by the support team to appear in the search, and many of them receive a corresponding mark if they are confirmed as official.
In addition, the top officials of the state have their own official channels on Viber: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, Head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov, and others. Thus, Ukrainians can receive news directly from high-ranking officials and be sure of its veracity.
