WhatsApp New Lawsuit: Cryptography Experts State Their Concerns

A new class-action lawsuit has reignited the long-running WhatsApp encryption debate, accusing Meta and WhatsApp of secretly accessing private user messages despite years of public claims about end-to-end encryption. 

Filed in a California federal court, the case targets non-U.S. and non-European users dating back to 2016, spanning countries such as Brazil, India, Australia, Mexico, and South Africa.

At first glance, the allegations appear explosive. Yet among cryptography experts and privacy lawyers, the reaction has been notably restrained, even skeptical. Specialists argue that while WhatsApp is not immune to privacy risks, the lawsuit’s technical claims raise more questions than they answer, particularly in the absence of concrete cryptographic proof.

As legal scrutiny intensifies, this case sits at the intersection of law, cryptography, trust, and the global conversation around digital privacy, an arena where facts matter more than fear.

Key Takeaways

• Cryptography experts say the lawsuit lacks technical evidence of an encryption backdoor.

• Legal analysts question whether the claims can survive early court review.

• The case highlights ongoing tensions between user trust, encryption promises, and platform transparency.

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What Is the WhatsApp New Lawsuit About?

The lawsuit alleges that Meta and WhatsApp misled users by claiming messages are protected with end-to-end encryption while internally retaining the ability to access message content. 

According to the complaint, Meta employees can allegedly view private chats through internal tools, bypassing encryption entirely.

Importantly, the class action excludes users in the U.S. and Europe due to arbitration clauses, focusing instead on international users who relied on WhatsApp’s privacy assurances for personal, journalistic, and activist communications.

Meta has categorically denied these accusations, calling them false and misleading, and has reaffirmed its use of the Signal Protocol for over a decade.

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Cryptography Experts Raise Technical Red Flags

No Proven Method to Bypass Encryption

Matthew Green, a well-known cryptography professor at Johns Hopkins University, has expressed serious doubts about the lawsuit’s core premise. 

He argues that if Meta had a systematic method to access unencrypted messages, it would almost certainly have been detected through reverse engineering or independent security research by now.

Such a backdoor, if it existed, would leave technical fingerprints. None have been publicly demonstrated.

Common Misunderstanding: Backups vs Encryption

Experts point instead to a more mundane and often misunderstood risk: unencrypted cloud backups. When users back up chats to Apple iCloud or Google Drive without enabling encrypted backups, message content may be accessible through those platforms, not WhatsApp itself.

This distinction is critical. It represents a user-side configuration issue, not a fundamental flaw in WhatsApp’s encryption architecture.

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Device-Level Access Is Not Platform Surveillance

Joe Doty from the Center for Democracy and Technology notes that encrypted systems can still be compromised through device malware, phishing, or user-generated reports. However, these scenarios do not imply routine, platform-wide access by Meta.

The lawsuit, he argues, stretches these edge cases into a sweeping claim of direct message visibility without technical substantiation.

Legal Viability and Timing Concerns

Privacy lawyer Maria Villegas Bravo from the Electronic Privacy Information Center has criticized the complaint for lacking specificity. The lawsuit does not clearly identify the software mechanisms that would allegedly allow message access, raising doubts about whether it can withstand early procedural challenges.

Courts typically demand detailed technical explanations in cases involving encryption—not generalized allegations.

Questionable Timing

The timing has also raised eyebrows. The lawsuit emerged amid heightened attention on WhatsApp’s legal victory against NSO Group, which was ordered to pay over $167 million in damages for exploiting spyware vulnerabilities.

Some analysts see the case as opportunistic, riding public confusion around surveillance rather than presenting new evidence.

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Broader Industry and Public Reactions

Public commentary from figures like Telegram’s Pavel Durov and Elon Musk amplified the controversy but did not introduce verifiable proof. Meanwhile, experts emphasize that while WhatsApp’s system is proprietary and not fully open-source, there has been no confirmed cryptographic breach of its end-to-end encryption to date.

Given WhatsApp’s massive global footprint of hundreds of millions of users in countries like India and Brazil the lawsuit underscores a deeper issue: how quickly encryption narratives can shift from technical reality to public mistrust.

Why This Case Matters Beyond WhatsApp

This legal challenge is less about proving a hidden backdoor and more about defining standards of evidence in encryption-related lawsuits. As governments, platforms, and users clash over privacy expectations, courts may increasingly become arbiters of cryptographic truth.

For now, experts urge caution. Encryption debates demand proof, not speculation and the burden of evidence remains firmly on the plaintiffs.

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FAQ

What is the WhatsApp encryption lawsuit about?

The lawsuit claims Meta and WhatsApp can secretly access private messages despite advertising end-to-end encryption, which Meta denies.

Are cryptography experts concerned about WhatsApp encryption?

Most experts express skepticism, stating there is no technical proof of an encryption backdoor.

Can Meta read WhatsApp messages?

According to Meta and independent researchers, WhatsApp messages are end-to-end encrypted and not readable by Meta under normal conditions.

What risks actually exist for WhatsApp users?

Unencrypted cloud backups, device malware, and phishing pose greater risks than platform-level message access.

Will the lawsuit succeed?

Legal experts believe the case may struggle due to a lack of technical specificity and supporting evidence.

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