Meta Faces Lawsuit Over Alleged WhatsApp Privacy Misrepresentations
Meta Platforms Inc. is embroiled in a U.S. court battle as plaintiffs from five countries accuse the tech giant of systematically deceiving WhatsApp users about message encryption. The lawsuit claims Meta secretly accesses and analyzes messages marketed as "end-to-end encrypted," directly contradicting WhatsApp's privacy assurances displayed to billions of users globally.
Whistleblower revelations allegedly expose how company employees can read supposedly private communications, despite Meta's $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp in 2014 being predicated on security promises. The plaintiffs' multinational composition—spanning Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico, and South Africa—highlights the global scale of the alleged deception.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone dismissed the claims as baseless, maintaining WhatsApp's encryption integrity. This legal challenge emerges as cryptocurrency markets increasingly prioritize secure communication platforms, though no direct crypto asset implications are cited in the filing.