Elon Musk has sparked a new debate about WhatsApp’s security after claiming the messaging app is “not secure,” as a new lawsuit in the US challenges its end-to-end encryption claims.
The case has been filed in a US district court by users from several countries, including Australia, Mexico, and South Africa. The plaintiffs allege that Meta and WhatsApp can access private messages despite repeated assurances that chats are fully encrypted.
According to the lawsuit, whistleblowers have claimed that Meta employees can view user messages using internal access tools. The complaint alleges that staff can submit an internal request which, once approved, allows them to access messages linked to a specific user ID.
The lawsuit also alleges that this access may not be time limited and could include old chats that users believe were deleted. However, there is no technical evidence that has been publicly presented so far.
Meta has denied the allegations, calling them false and stating that WhatsApp has been using the Signal encryption protocol for more than a decade, which means that the company cannot access messages.
The controversy has revived earlier concerns about WhatsApp’s privacy practices and comes as debates over encrypted messaging continue to grow worldwide.
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