A lawsuit has been filed in San Francisco against Meta Platforms, where an international group of plaintiffs claims that the company misled WhatsApp users regarding the privacy of their messages. Bloomberg reports on this.
The complaint states that Meta and WhatsApp "store, analyze, and have the ability to access nearly all WhatsApp chats that are marketed as private." The plaintiffs accuse the company and its management of fraud against billions of users.
Meta, which acquired WhatsApp in 2014, dismissed these allegations. Company spokesperson Andy Stone called the lawsuit "nonsensical" and stated that the company would seek sanctions against the plaintiffs' lawyers. He argued that claims about the lack of encryption are "categorically false and absurd." Stone emphasized that WhatsApp has been using the Signal protocol for end-to-end encryption for ten years, which ensures that messages are only accessible to the sender and receiver.
The lawsuit was filed by citizens from Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico, and South Africa. The document states that Meta retains the content of messages and company employees can access them. "Whistleblowers" are cited as sources of information, although their identities are not disclosed.
It is also worth noting that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission continues its legal battle against Meta for monopolistic practices in the social media market. The regulator insists that Meta maintains dominance in the personal social networking market by acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp.