Plaintiffs Sue Meta Over WhatsApp Privacy Claims

An international group of plaintiffs has filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms in a U.S. District Court in San Francisco, accusing the company of misleading users about the privacy protections of its WhatsApp messaging service. The complaint challenges Meta's claims of end-to-end encryption, alleging that the company can store, analyze, and access users' private communications despite assurances to the contrary.

The suit, filed last Friday, includes plaintiffs from Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico, and South Africa. They contend that WhatsApp's encryption features create a false sense of security, exposing billions of users worldwide to risks of data exposure. The plaintiffs reference unnamed whistleblowers who reportedly provided information on these practices, though the complaint offers no further details on their identities or specific revelations. Attorneys representing the group, from firms including Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Keller Postman, have requested certification as a class-action lawsuit, which could expand the case to encompass WhatsApp's global user base of more than two billion people.

Meta, which acquired WhatsApp in 2014, has firmly rejected the...