A new legal challenge is barreling toward Meta Platforms Inc. like a data breach in slow motion, with an international coalition of plaintiffs accusing the tech giant of misleading the public about the privacy and security of WhatsApp Messenger.
Filed Friday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the Meta WhatsApp privacy lawsuit targets Meta and senior executives, alleging that the company paints an illusion of secrecy while retaining sweeping access to user communications around the world.
Plaintiffs say privacy promises ring hollow
The plaintiffs argue that Meta’s public assurances about WhatsApp’s privacy are more marketing gloss than reality. According to the complaint, Meta and its messaging service “store, analyze, and have access to virtually all so-called ‘private’ messages,” despite repeated claims that chats are shielded from prying eyes.
Like a locked vault with too many spare keys, the suit contends that WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption does not fully bar internal access. The plaintiffs allege that Meta can reach message content through employees, internal tools and systems, undermining the promise that only senders and recipients can read messages.
The filing references unnamed whistleblowers, whose identities remain undisclosed, as sources for claims that Meta’s internal practices contradict its public statements.
