'Trust Me, Bro!': Zoho Founder Responds To Arattai Privacy Concerns When Sharing Intimate Pictures On Chat
Zoho's founder Sridhar Vembu has reaffirmed the company's commitment to user privacy by saying, 'Trust me, bro!' following a viral X post that questioned the security of private chats in the firm's messaging app, Arattai. The controversy has sparked a widespread debate on data protection in Indian tech products.
The uproar began with a pointed query from X user Ravi (@tamilravi), who asked: "Forget secret lovers. Can a husband and wife exchange intimate pictures between them? Who all at Zoho have access to these pictures? Straight forward answer please." In a follow-up post that amassed many views, Ravi shared a screenshot of Vembu's initial response, captioning it: "I asked the Zoho founder how private the pictures shared between a husband and wife are when using the Arattai chat app. His response, 'Trust me, bro!'" The post, which included the full exchange, quickly drew thousands of likes, reposts, and replies, highlighting growing user concerns about end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in emerging apps.
Vembu, known for his outspoken views on technology and business, replied directly to the original query, emphasising Zoho's trust-based model. "I said this clearly. Our entire SaaS business is based on the trust that we DO NOT access customer data and we do not use it for selling stuff to them," he wrote. "End to end encryption is a technical feature and that is coming. Trust is far more precious and we are earning that trust daily in the global market. We will continue to fulfill that trust of every user of our product everywhere."
The response, while defending Zoho's practices, acknowledged that full E2EE—a standard in apps like WhatsApp since 2016—is still in development for Arattai, which launched four years ago but has surged in popularity recently.
Arattai, Zoho's homegrown alternative to global messaging giants, allows users to send texts, photos, videos, documents, and make voice/video calls, along with features like stories and channels. Marketed as a privacy-focused tool amid India's push for digital self-reliance, the app has been praised for its ad-free experience but faced scrutiny over delayed security upgrades.
Public reaction has been polarised. Supporters of Zoho, including some X users, accused critics of bias or exaggeration, with one replying, "You conveniently ignored his sentence of end-to-end encryption. Such a sad little liar you are."
Others defended the questioning as constructive, noting, "Picking holes and helping improve an Indian product is good. The intentions have to be good, not biased based on societal anchors."
Skeptics, however, expressed deeper distrust, with comments like, "Even if they implement E2EE, I won't trust these guys, especially when they are backed by scandalous people." Ravi himself engaged actively, clarifying that he shared Vembu's full reply and pointing to broader disappointment in the timeline.
The incident underscores broader tensions in India's tech ecosystem, where homegrown apps like Arattai are lauded for innovation but must navigate privacy expectations in a post-WhatsApp era.
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