Houseparty And Hacking: Was The App The Target Of A Smear Campaign?

The video chat and gaming app Houseparty is offering a $1million (£810,750) reward to anyone who can provide proof that they were the target of a recent smear campaign. It comes after rumours spread online that downloading Houseparty causes other apps on your phone to be hacked.

Tweeting this morning, Houseparty released a statement acknowledging the rumours – which began last week with several people posting screenshots claiming they had been locked out of other apps on such as Netflix, Spotify and some banking apps after they downloaded Houseparty.

Claiming there is ‘no evidence’ of such an issue, the company – which is owned by gaming firm Epic Games - seem to believe they have been targeted by another company.

‘We are investigating indications that the recent hacking rumors were spread by a paid commercial smear campaign to harm Houseparty,’ read their statement on Twitter. ‘We are offering a $1,000,000 bounty for the first individual to provide proof of such a campaign to bounty@houseparty.com.’

‘We've found no evidence to suggest a link between Houseparty and the compromises of other unrelated accounts,’ a spokesperson for Epic Games told the BBC. ‘As a general rule, we suggest all users choose strong passwords when creating online accounts on any platform.’

Houseparty has quickly become one of the most popular apps people are using to video chat as countries around the world remain in quarantine to stop the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19). According to Apptopia, downloads increased from 130,000 per week around mid-February to 2 million per week in mid-March.

The app does not access third-party apps such as Netflix or Spotify but does ask users to access their contacts, Facebook and Snapchat. It’s known for its unique video-call features, such as random people on your friends list being able to pop up in your call if you leave it ‘unlocked’ – which has led to some reports of inappropriate behaviour.

As of yet, there has been no explanation from Houseparty about why they think they were targeted or who it may be – but unsurprisingly the $1m bounty has received considerable attention from users.

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