For years, billions of people have trusted WhatsApp because of one big promise: your messages are protected with end-to-end encryption. In simple words, the app says only you and the person you are chatting with can read the messages, not even the company itself. But now, the US state of Texas is questioning that promise. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Meta and WhatsApp, alleging the companies may have misled users about how private and secure their conversations are. What is Texas accusing Meta and WhatsApp of?
According to the lawsuit, WhatsApp promotes itself as a highly secure messaging platform with end-to-end encryption (E2E). This technology is supposed to ensure that only the sender and receiver can see the contents of messages. However, Texas claims that investigations and reports suggest Meta and WhatsApp may still have access to large amounts of user communication and data. The lawsuit points to: Texas says these claims directly contradict WhatsApp’s public privacy promises. What Ken Paxton said Attorney General Ken Paxton said Texans deserve to know whether their private conversations are actually private. He accused WhatsApp of marketing itself as secure and encrypted while allegedly failing to deliver on those promises fully. The lawsuit has been filed under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, a consumer protection law used to take action against companies accused of misleading customers. Also read: Bring back a cleaner Instagram inbox by hiding ‘Instants’: Here’s how to turn off this feature in a few simple steps
What does Texas want from the lawsuit? Texas is asking the court to: This is part of a larger push by Texas against major tech companies over user privacy concerns. Meta strongly denies the allegations Meta has denied all accusations made in the lawsuit. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said the claims are false and insisted that WhatsApp cannot read or access users’ encrypted messages. The company continues to maintain that WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption works as intended and protects user conversations. Also read: Give your photos a Lo-Fi Dusk look without using Instagram
Texas has recently targeted several tech companies This is not the first time Texas has taken legal action against big tech firms over privacy issues. The state has previously: The new case against Meta adds to growing global scrutiny around digital privacy, encrypted messaging, and how tech companies handle user information.