US authorities have reportedly launched an investigation into claims that Meta can read users' encrypted chats on WhatsApp, despite the messaging platform's assurances of end-to-end encryption. The investigation follows a lawsuit filed last week, which alleged that Meta "can access virtually all of WhatsApp users' purportedly 'private' communications".
The suit, brought by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, cites unnamed whistleblowers from around the world, including Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico, and South Africa. These sources allegedly claim that Meta has the ability to read WhatsApp messages, regardless of its claims about end-to-end encryption.
Meta has vehemently denied these allegations, calling them "categorically false and absurd". The company suggests that the lawsuit is a tactic to support the NSO Group, an Israeli firm known for developing spyware used against activists and journalists. This is not the first time Meta and WhatsApp have clashed with the NSO Group; in 2021, WhatsApp won a lawsuit against the group for violating its terms of service.
Quinn Emanuel is also representing the NSO Group in its appeal against a US federal court judgment last year, which ordered the company to pay $167m to WhatsApp. This has led some to question the firm's motives and whether they are using this lawsuit as a way to discredit Meta and WhatsApp.
"We're pursuing sanctions against Quinn Emanuel for filing a meritless lawsuit that was designed purely to grab headlines," said Carl Woog, a Meta spokesperson. "This is the same firm that is trying to help NSO overturn an injunction that barred their operations for targeting journalists and government officials with spyware."
Despite these claims, WhatsApp maintains that its encryption remains secure, and users can rest assured that their messages are protected from prying eyes.
But some experts are skeptical of this claim. Steven Murdoch, a professor of security engineering at UCL, describes the lawsuit as "a bit strange". "It seems to be going mostly on whistleblowers, and we don't know much about them or their credibility," he said. "I would be very surprised if what they are claiming is actually true."
If WhatsApp were indeed reading users' messages, it's likely that staff would have discovered this and ended the business. "It's very hard to keep secrets inside a company," Murdoch said. "If there was something as scandalous as this going on, I think it's very likely that it would have leaked out from someone within WhatsApp."
The investigation also raises questions about Meta's ability to collect user metadata, such as profile information, contact lists, and who users speak to and when. While this data is not necessarily encrypted, it can still be used to track user behavior and create targeted advertisements.
A senior executive in the technology sector told us that WhatsApp's vaunted privacy "leaves much to be desired", given the platform's willingness to collect metadata on its users.
However, the idea that WhatsApp can selectively and retroactively access the content of individual chats is a mathematical impossibility," he said.