Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against WhatsApp and its parent company Meta Platforms, accusing them of deceiving users about the strength of WhatsApp’s encryption. The complaint, lodged in Harrison County court, alleges that WhatsApp falsely assures users their messages are secure, yet Meta retains access to “virtually all” private communications on the app.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone refuted the allegations, stating that WhatsApp cannot access encrypted messages and that the lawsuit is baseless.
The lawsuit seeks a court order barring Meta from accessing Texans’ messages without consent, along with monetary penalties. It references a federal investigation and whistleblower report suggesting Meta may have accessed unencrypted WhatsApp data.
This action is part of a broader push by Paxton’s office against tech giants, including a $1.375 billion settlement with Google over data privacy claims and a separate lawsuit against Netflix for alleged unauthorized data collection.