WhatsApp can read encrypted messages, US lawsuit claims as Meta hits back

• Posted on January 28, 2026January 28, 2026
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

A lawsuit filed in the United States has claimed that WhatsApp can read users’ private and encrypted messages, reigniting debate over the reliability of the messaging platform’s end-to-end encryption and drawing a sharp rebuttal from its parent company, Meta.

The case, lodged on January 24, 2026 at the US District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco, was filed by an international group of plaintiffs from Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa.

The plaintiffs are seeking global class action status, aiming to represent billions of WhatsApp users worldwide.

At the centre of the lawsuit is the claim that Meta and WhatsApp have “mislead users by advertising E2EE, while secretly storing, analysing and accessing virtually all private communications”. The suit alleges that, contrary to public assurances, WhatsApp employees can obtain access to private messages through an internal system that allows staff to request engineers to grant access without meaningful oversight.

According to the complaint, the messages can allegedly be viewed in real time through a widget using a user’s ID. It further claims that past messages dating back to the creation of an account could be accessed without decryption, contradicting WhatsApp’s longstanding position that only the sender and recipient can read message content.

The lawsuit argues that Meta’s alleged conduct amounts to “fraud on billions of users worldwide” who rely on WhatsApp’s privacy assurances. It is seeking damages as well as injunctive relief to prevent further alleged violations.

The claims rely heavily on unnamed “courageous whistleblowers”, whom the lawsuit cites as the source of the information. It also alleges that non-disclosure agreements at Meta are suppressing the disclosure of these practices. However, the filing does not identify the whistleblowers, their roles within the company, or provide specific technical evidence to substantiate the allegations.

The case has nonetheless renewed scrutiny of WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption technology, which is based on the widely respected Signal protocol. End-to-end encryption is enabled by default on WhatsApp, with encryption keys stored only on users’ devices, a design that is intended to prevent Meta or third parties from accessing message content in transit or on servers. While WhatsApp is known to collect metadata, such as who communicates with whom, the system has long been regarded by experts as robust.

Meta has strongly rejected the allegations, dismissing them as baseless. A company spokesperson, Andy Stone, described the claims as “categorically false, absurd, and a ‘frivolous work of fiction’”, stressing that WhatsApp has used the Signal protocol for end-to-end encryption for nearly a decade.

Meta has also vowed to fight the lawsuit vigorously and said it would seek sanctions against the plaintiffs’ lawyers, insisting that neither the company nor WhatsApp has any ability to read users’ private messages.

As the case proceeds, legal and technology experts are expected to closely examine whether the plaintiffs can substantiate their claims, with the outcome likely to have far-reaching implications for user trust, privacy assurances and the future regulation of encrypted messaging platforms.