Is WhatsApp Tracking Your Messages? What's In Lawsuit?
The plaintiffs say WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption, which is supposed to ensure that only the sender and recipient can read messages;
On one hand, WhatsApp claims to be the most secure messaging platform in the world by enforcing end to end encryption. But on the other hand, the platform is facing a major lawsuit as they’re facing allegations of reading the texts of individuals.
Meta is facing a major lawsuit in a U.S. federal court over allegations that WhatsApp messages are not as private as the company claims. The complaint, filed by users from multiple countries including India, Brazil, Australia, Mexico, and South Africa, accuses Meta of misleading billions of users worldwide.
The plaintiffs say WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption, which is supposed to ensure that only the sender and recipient can read messages, can be bypassed, allowing Meta to access, store, and analyze private chats.
The lawsuit cites information from whistleblowers who claim that internal practices at Meta undermine the privacy assurances users receive. According to the complaint, Meta has misrepresented how encryption works and how user data is handled, creating a false impression that WhatsApp chats are fully private.
Meta has strongly denied the allegations, calling the lawsuit a sham and asserting that WhatsApp messages are end-to-end encrypted using the Signal protocol, which is widely regarded as highly secure.
The case has drawn attention to the gap between the privacy promises tech companies make and their internal data practices. If certified as a class action, the lawsuit could represent billions of users globally and may have wide-reaching implications for messaging platforms, privacy standards, and how companies communicate security to their users.