Lawsuit accuses Meta of reading private WhatsApp messages
Photo: WhatsApp accused of violating privacy (Getty Images)
An international group of plaintiffs has filed a lawsuit in a US court against Meta Platforms, Inc., accusing the company of spreading misleading information about the privacy and security of WhatsApp, according to Bloomberg.
The plaintiffs claim that despite Meta's statements about end-to-end encryption, which is supposed to make messages accessible only to the sender and recipient, the company stores, analyzes and has access to nearly all users’ private chats. According to the lawsuit, Meta and its executives allegedly fraudulently misled billions of WhatsApp users worldwide.
The lawsuit was filed on Friday in the US District Court in San Francisco. The group of plaintiffs includes citizens of Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa. Their lawyers are seeking class-action status for the case.
Meta called the lawsuit "frivolous" and said it would seek sanctions against the plaintiffs’ attorneys. Company spokesperson Andy Stone said:
"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."
The lawsuit also refers to information provided by whistleblowers who allegedly uncovered the violations, although their identities were not disclosed. The plaintiffs' lawyers declined to comment.
Earlier, it was reported that Meta faced a $3 billion class-action lawsuit alleging that the company illegally collected the personal data of 44 million UK social media users over a four-year period.
RBC-Ukraine has also reported that Meta generates significant revenue from advertising fraudulent schemes and banned products across its platforms.
