Right, I definitely wouldn't use WhatsApp for anything truly sensitive. I wouldn't use smartphone software at all, personally. But this particular "backdoor" seems bogus.
It's shared physical space. I'm OK if they video me. I'm OK if they share that video with law enforcement if there is a reason of substance to do so and as long as they make it publicly known they asked for it within a reasonable timeframe, say 45 days. I'm NOT OK with broad sweeping requests and would only allow them if circumstances required it and the request for the data was disclosed within 90 days.
Does Walmart actively deceive me? Not that I'm aware, but I don't shop there.
Never heard of Glencore or Phillip Morris.
As for Blackwater and Palantir, my impression from the media is they do exactly what they say. It's not like Palantir lies about harvesting data to give to government. I trust that they actually do do that.
None of those companies have posted fake news and altered the news algo with the express intent of manipulating users' mental states for reasons that basically boil down to "for the lols" and "let's see if we can make money from this".
The amount of passion in your comment and this gap in knowledge don't go well with each other. I encourage you to at least read about Philip Morris (or watch John Oliver's episode about them at least).
Cool, no worries. Philip Morris operates worldwide though, and I'll have to hear some awesome arguments to be convinced that facebook is more evil/less trustable than them.
I can't think of a company I trust less than Facebook.