Seven international individuals have filed a class action lawsuit in California against Meta-owned WhatsApp, alleging the company misrepresented its end-to-end encryption (E2EE) and violated users’ privacy. Based on an unnamed whistleblower’s claims, the complaint alleged that despite promises of end-to-end encryption, Meta employees have access to encrypted private messages.
Various people, including India-based Alka Gaur and individuals from Australia, Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa, filed the lawsuit against the platform. It covers most WhatsApp users worldwide but excludes those in the US and Canada because of an arbitration clause in WhatsApp’s terms of service, while those in the UK and the European Region are excluded as they are required to raise claims in their own country or Ireland.
What are the allegations against WhatsApp?
The lawsuit against WhatsApp and its parent company, Meta, primarily alleges that they fraudulently misrepresented the app’s privacy by secretly storing, analysing, and maintaining unlimited access to users’ end-to-end encrypted communications.
The lawsuit alleges the companies invaded users’ privacy, breached contractual obligations, and profited unfairly from the unauthorised use of private encrypted communications, including claims under California’s specific privacy, theft, and unfair competition laws, like the federal Wiretap Act and California-specific statutes such as the Computer Data Access and Fraud Act and the Invasion of Privacy Act.
Response from WhatsApp:
Calling these allegations false, WhatsApp’s Head, Will Cathcart, reiterated, “WhatsApp can’t read messages because the encryption keys are stored on your phone and we don’t have access to them.” He further linked the lawsuit to the infamous Pegasus spyware used by various countries to spy on WhatsApp’s users. “This is a no-merit, headline-seeking lawsuit brought by the very same firm defending NSO after their spyware attacked journalists and government officials,” read his post on X.
This is totally false. WhatsApp can’t read messages because the encryption keys are stored on your phone and we don’t have access to them. This is a no-merit, headline-seeking lawsuit brought by the very same firm defending NSO after their spyware attacked journalists and…
— Will Cathcart (@wcathcart) January 27, 2026
“Any claim that people’s WhatsApp messages are not encrypted is categorically false and absurd. WhatsApp has been end-to-end encrypted using the Signal protocol for a decade. This lawsuit is a frivolous work of fiction, and we will pursue sanctions against plaintiffs’ counsel,” a WhatsApp spokesperson told MediaNama.
WhatsApp’s Alleged Access to Encrypted Chats
Addressing the platform’s end-to-end encryption claims, the lawsuit states, “These claims are false. WhatsApp and its parent company, Meta, store, analyse, and can access virtually all of WhatsApp users’ purportedly ‘private’ communications.”
For some context, WhatsApp uses the Signal encryption protocol. “No one outside of the chat, not even WhatsApp, can read,…
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