WhatsApp has long sold one simple idea: your messages stay only between you and the person or group you are chatting with. Not to any third party, not even WhatsApp itself.
By default, open a new WhatsApp chat, and you’ll see the familiar line assuring “Messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted. Only people in this chat can read, listen to, or share them. That promise now sits at the centre of a lawsuit putting Meta, WhatsApp’s parent company, under intense scrutiny.
According to reports, plaintiffs from Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico, and South Africa have filed a case in a US court, accusing Meta and WhatsApp of misleading billions of users about what end-to-end encryption actually protects. The lawsuit claims WhatsApp does more than just deliver messages. It alleges that the company stores, analyses, and can access private communications, and that some employees can view user content.
The case relies on accounts of “courageous whistleblowers” said to understand WhatsApp’s internal systems, though their identities and evidence are yet to be tested in court.
“This lawsuit is a frivolous work of fiction.” In its defence, the company has strongly pushed back, describing the claims as “false and absurd,” and insisting that WhatsApp has used the Signal encryption protocol for over a decade, making it unable to read private messages.
Adding fuel to the fire, Telegram founder Pavel Durov joined the criticism online, quoting on X, “You’d have to be braindead to believe WhatsApp is secure in 2026. When we analysed how WhatsApp implemented its “encryption”, we found multiple attack vectors.”
Elon Musk also weighed in, tweeting, “WhatsApp is not secure [and] even Signal is questionable.” He encouraged people to “Use X chat,” an encrypted messaging feature on X developed for private chats, calls and file sharing.
Even though these statements remain opinions before legal findings, they reflect a growing mistrust of how large platforms handle user data behind the scenes.
Despite the controversy, WhatsApp still maintains its user base of over 3 billion. In Uganda and across much of the Global South, it remains the default tool for daily communication and small business trade.
