Elon Musk has once again taken a strong swipe at WhatsApp, declaring that users "can't trust" the popular messaging app. His comments came after a new
class-action lawsuit accused Meta of secretly allowing employees, contractors (including firms like Accenture), and third parties to read, intercept, and store private user messages — despite WhatsApp's long-standing claims of end-to-end encryption. Musk responded directly on X to a post highlighting the lawsuit, writing simply: “Can’t trust WhatsApp.” He followed up by promoting his own platform, urging people to switch to X Chat for messaging, voice, and video calls because it offers “actual privacy.” Telegram CEO Pavel Durov also jumped into the debate, calling WhatsApp’s encryption “the biggest consumer fraud in history” and claiming the app has multiple security weaknesses. What the Lawsuit Alleges A lawsuit has been brought against Meta in federal court in the United States by people from multiple countries, including Canada, South Africa, and the United States. The lawsuit alleges that Meta misled billions of people around the world by advertising WhatsApp as being fully private, while internally giving access to both third parties (external developers of WhatsApps, for example, who helped to develop WhatsApp) and to its internal teams. If the court finds Meta guilty, it could establish a precedent for fraud in relation to user trust, as well as raise new questions about how secure Meta's messaging services are. Meta Hits Back Strongly Meta and WhatsApp were quick to reject the accusations. In a direct reply, WhatsApp stated: “The claims in this lawsuit are categorically false and absurd.” The company emphasised that WhatsApp has used the Signal protocol for end-to-end encryption for over a decade. This means messages can only be read by the sender and the recipient — Meta itself cannot access them because the encryption keys stay on users’ phones. A Meta executive added that the lawsuit lacks merit and appears to be a headline-seeking move. They pointed out that the law firm behind the case has previously defended controversial spyware firms. Musk’s Long-Standing Criticism This isn't the first time that Musk has made comments about WhatsApp being a bad service with regard to security (sometimes even questioning whether Signal is a secure messaging platform). Musk continues to use X-Chat as a better platform because he believes it provides users with a way to communicate without advertisements or data collection. However, while X Chat has end-to-end encryption, there are significant differences between it and other messaging platforms like Signal; for example, the way in which they handle keys (encryption algorithms) and their collection of metadata. On the other hand, WhatsApp has more than two billion users around the world and is still considered one of the largest messaging services in the world, particularly in countries such as India. Why This Matters This exchange underscores the continuing "encryption wars," as larger tech firms continue to fight over who has access to users' private conversations, which is becoming an area of increasing concern for many users. Privacy has become a battleground as governments, regulators and courts have started to closely investigate how these applications manage and access their user data. This leaves users, both everyday users of WhatsApp and others alike, to determine what the right decision is: should you move apps? Enable supplemental security options like encrypted backups? Or is the existing level of security from WhatsApp still sufficient? Currently, WhatsApp says your messages with your contacts are kept private from all others, including those on the platform. On the flip side, Musk and others disagree and are using the pending suit to promote their own platforms for the purpose of reasonable privacy and security measures. Currently the case is in its infancy, and we will have to wait and see how it progresses. Meanwhile, users who are particularly conscientious about their confidentiality might want to explore their app settings, activate disappearing messages, or consider moving away from WhatsApp altogether.
