>a private WhatsApp phone number that a property industry executive, James Gray, had posted to his website.

>Gray's number is posted on his business website

Private? Or posted to his business website? You can only pick one.

Perhaps they meant "private" in the sense that it's his personal number, rather than one associated with the public face of the company. Idk.

Either way - if Meta had send him thousands of calls from people who wanted the $SomeCompany Customer Service Dept., it woulda been a really shitty move.

Yes, of course! I'm not implying that what Meta did here is okay. Meta is in the wrong.

Just emphasizing that if a phone number is on a business website, it doesn't make sense to call it private. I would expect a tech-focused publication to make that distinction.