Fresh off the presses: A high-stakes class-action suit against Meta in San Francisco court claims WhatsApp’s privacy facade is a sham. Plaintiffs from across the globe accuse the company of hoarding user chats for analysis and employee access, flouting its encryption vows.
Spanning continents—Australia to India—the case spotlights alleged executive deceit, with filers pushing for mass representation. If certified, it could unite billions in a privacy reckoning.
Not mincing words, Meta called the lawsuit ‘fabricated nonsense’ and reaffirmed WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption, powered by Signal tech since 2014. ‘Only you control your messages,’ a spokesperson insisted, signaling intent to quash the action swiftly.
WhatsApp’s journey began humbly in 2009, creators Jan Koum and Brian Acton bootstrapping an iOS app that went Android viral. Meta’s $19B buyout in 2014 supercharged growth; Zuckerberg touted it at Mobile World Congress as integral to internet.org ambitions.
Now serving 3 billion monthly users (100M+ in the US), it’s the undisputed messaging king. This dispute arrives amid intensifying privacy wars, potentially setting precedents for how apps guard our whispers in the digital age.