New Delhi: A recent case in the United States has again raised the question of privacy guarantees by WhatsApp, stating that Meta lied to its users about the safety of their messages. It alleges in the case that regardless of the long-standing promise by WhatsApp to provide end-to-end encryption, the company is nonetheless able to read and process huge amounts of personal conversations.
The legal issue has gained worldwide coverage within a short period of time, particularly following a tweet by Elon Musk, who questioned WhatsApp security and used the opportunity to market his own messaging service. Meta has strongly denied the allegations and described the case as groundless and misleading.
WhatsApp is not secure. Even Signal is questionable.
Use ЁЭХП Chat. https://t.co/MWXCOmkbTD
тАФ Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 27, 2026
Lawsuit challenges WhatsAppтАЩs encryption claims
The case was filed in a federal court in San Francisco, and it is against both Meta Platforms and WhatsApp. According to the plaintiffs, Meta is publicly stating that it cares about privacy, but this is not reflected in its internal operations.
The complaint claims that, according to WhatsApp, only participants of the chats can read the messages. Nevertheless, the case claims that user communications are stored and processed by Meta in a manner that gives access to the company. On a larger scale, the plaintiffs accuse the leadership of Meta of the fraud of deceiving billions of users across the world that the real degree of privacy on the platform was what they promised.
Users across a number of countries, such as India, Australia, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa, have filed the case. This is the international team that lends credence to the arguments and emphasises the prevalence of the concerns.
The case also finds that the employees of Meta can see the contents of WhatsApp messages. This would have significant consequences on regulations and trust of encrypted messaging services in various locations should it be proven.
Whistleblower claims are problematic
The court documents mention nameless whistleblowers who reported the practices. Nonetheless, the identities and other evidence are not publicised yet.
This confusion may be a key concern in the further development of the case. The judges might need to be convinced with more evidence in order to substantiate the allegations, considering that the accusation is of such a scale.
Meta rejects allegations, calls case тАЬfictionтАЭ
Meta has defended himself. The firm has referred to the suit as a frivolous one and said that they intend to impose sanctions on the lawyers.
WhatsApp messages are not encrypted, as the company spokesperson, Andy Stone, said such claims are false categorically. He also wrote that WhatsApp has been using the Signal end-to-end encryption protocol for almost 10 years and characterised the lawsuit as fiction. Meta claims that they do not read messages of the user.
Elon Musk weighs in and promotes X Chat
Elon Musk came into the picture as the story became viral. In a post on X, he stated that WhatsApp is not secure and indicated that Signal is questionable. He encouraged users to instead use X Chat.
His remarks went viral very fast, creating a competitive dimension to the debate and escalating the debate about the security of encrypted messaging apps among the populace.