Meta is in trouble, and this time for violating WhatsApp privacy rules. A fresh class-action lawsuit accuses the company of misleading billions of WhatsApp users about the privacy of their messages. The legal action, lodged in a US court, challenges the firm's long-standing claims of end-to-end encryption, suggesting that Meta can still read and store private chats.
Meta can read WhatsApp chats?
The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court in San Francisco, involves plaintiffs from Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico, and South Africa. It alleges that Meta and its executives have deceived users by promoting WhatsApp as a secure platform where messages remain private. According to the claims, the company stores, analyses, and accesses the content of users' communications, contradicting assurances that only senders and recipients can view them. Whistleblowers, though unnamed in the filing, are cited as the source of evidence showing that WhatsApp employees use internal tools to review message content for tasks such as moderation or handling user reports.
What is end-to-end Encryption?
End-to-end encryption is a security measure that scrambles messages so that only the intended sender and recipient can decipher and read them. In WhatsApp's case, this has been implemented using the Signal protocol since 2016, with the feature enabled by default for all chats. Under this system, the messages are locked with a unique key held only by the communicating parties, meaning intermediaries, including the service provider, should not be able to access the content.
Why encryption matters for WhatsApp users?
This form of encryption is crucial because it protects users' personal information from unauthorised access, including by governments, hackers, or even the company itself. For billions of WhatsApp users worldwide, it provides reassurance that sensitive conversations, such as those involving health, finances, or politics, remain confidential. WhatsApp's biggest leverage is encryption, giving it an edge among other players. Without reliable encryption, trust in digital communication platforms erodes, potentially exposing individuals to privacy breaches, or data exploitation for commercial purposes.
Meta's response
Meta has strongly denied the allegations, describing the lawsuit as frivolous and based on falsehoods. A spokesperson for the company stated that claims of non-encrypted messages are categorically false and absurd, reaffirming that WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption prevents anyone but the sender and recipient from accessing chats. The firm intends to defend the case vigorously and seek sanctions against the plaintiffs' legal team.
