Houseparty is a platform where people can meet virtually and do “house parties” in these times of the COVID-19 pandemic where people cannot meet each other. Now, it is obvious that such apps will go viral since the times demand such apps to be used more and more. However, we have already seen that hacking has become a trend right now and people are doing everything they can to sabotage users and make money out of such a grim situation. On that topic, there were reports floating around since start of this week that Houseparty has been sabotaged.
There were also some high-profile users who reported that their Instagram and other social media accounts linked to their Houseparty account are showing “unusual activity” which might or might not mean that it is hacked. Therefore, they feel that the platform was recently hacked. But the interesting part is that the company claims that it is being sabotaged and someone has organized a “smear campaign” against them in order to tarnish the app’s image since it is going viral right now.
Not only that, but Houseparty’s claims might also be serious because it is offering $1 million for anyone who can give them information about the organizers of this smear campaign. Having said that, this can also be a way to not spoil its reputation by offering a huge amount of money. It is interesting to note that there is no one who has reported about any such campaign yet which means there might not be a campaign.
Also, there is no evidence that Houseparty got hacked and the company is denying the reports as well. The company has released a response saying that “All Houseparty accounts are safe – the service is secure, has never been compromised, and doesn’t collect passwords for other sites”.