You can win Rs. 7.5 crore from Houseparty: Here's how
What's the story
Houseparty, the social networking app that shot to fame ever since governments began imposing lockdowns on their citizens in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, is offering a reward of Rs. 7.5 crore ($1 million). The company is giving the money as a 'bounty' to the first person who helps it in zeroing down the culprit behind a "commercial smear campaign" against Houseparty.
Reports
Rumors of Houseparty-led hacks
As the user-base of Houseparty, owned by Epic Games, continued growing, select few complained about hacks caused by the service. Since Monday, they have been alleging that other services on their mobile, including Netflix and Spotify, were compromised after downloading Houseparty. The users in question also shared screenshots showcasing how they were locked out of apps, bank accounts, post installing the video chat-gaming app.
Response
However, company categorically denied the claims
Even though Houseparty fought the rumors actively on its social channels, the complaints led to calls for removing the app from smartphones. In response, a spokesperson for Epic Games issued a statement categorically denying the allegations and noting that it has "no evidence to suggest a link between Houseparty and the compromises of other unrelated accounts."
Information
Passwords not collected for other sites
The Epic Games' spokesperson added that they require users to "choose strong passwords when creating online accounts on any platform" while Houseparty emphasized that its "service is secure, has never been compromised, and doesn't collect passwords for other sites."
Possibility
Indications of commercial smear campaign
After denying the allegations, Houseparty tweeted out that it is "investigating indications that the recent hacking rumors were spread by a paid commercial smear campaign to harm" the image of the company. As such, the company added, anyone who can provide the proof of this campaign would be entitled to $1 million or Rs. 7.5 crore bounty.
Twitter Post
Here's what the company tweeted
We have spent the past few weeks feeling humbled and grateful that we can be such a large part of bringing people together during such a hard time.
— Houseparty (@houseparty) March 31, 2020
Growth
Still, Houseparty app continues to go strong
While it remains unclear if anybody provided the evidence needed by the company, the hiccup hasn't affected the growing user-base of Houseparty. The app debuted in 2016 and was acquired by Epic Games in 2019, and has witnessed an average of 130,000 downloads/week till mid-February. Meanwhile, since late February, when the lockdowns were imposed, the figure reached up to 2 million a week.