Texas authorities have filed a lawsuit against WhatsApp and its parent company Meta, accusing them of violating the privacy of users’ communications, Reuters reports.
The lawsuit was initiated by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The complaint alleges that WhatsApp “falsely assures users” that their communications are fully protected through end-to-end encryption, while company employees allegedly have access to “virtually all” private messages.
“WhatsApp markets its services as secure and encrypted, but fails to uphold those promises,” Paxton said.
The lawsuit references media reports about a federal investigation into Meta’s possible access to unencrypted user messages, as well as a whistleblower complaint submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Meta rejected the allegations. Company spokesman Andy Stone said WhatsApp does not have access to users’ encrypted communications.
Amid the legal battle, Telegram founder Pavel Durov criticized WhatsApp, calling its encryption system “a giant scam.”
“Now we know what the founder of WhatsApp meant when he said he ‘sold out his users’ privacy,’” Durov wrote.