The Office of the Attorney General of Texas sued WhatsApp and its parent company Meta Platforms Inc. on Thursday, accusing them of misleading consumers about the strength and scope of WhatsApp’s encryption measures—a claim denied by a Meta spokesperson. The lawsuit, filed in Harrison County Court, alleges that despite WhatsApp and Meta having access to “nearly all” private communications on the messaging app, they falsely assured users that WhatsApp messages were encrypted. “WhatsApp markets its service as secure and encrypted but fails to deliver on those promises,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone stated on social media that the allegations in the lawsuit are false and that WhatsApp cannot access users’ encrypted communications. The suit seeks a court order prohibiting Meta and WhatsApp from accessing Texas users’ WhatsApp messages without their consent and requests monetary penalties.
