Texas Sues Meta Over WhatsApp Privacy Claims Affecting 3 Billion Users

13 articles · Updated · Bloomberg Law · May 22

A Texas state-court suit accuses Meta-owned WhatsApp of deceptive trade practices, alleging the service can access communications it markets as private and encrypted for 3 billion users.
Paxton’s complaint says WhatsApp failed to deliver on security promises repeated since 2016, including Mark Zuckerberg’s 2018 Senate testimony that Facebook systems could not see message content.
Meta denied the allegations, saying WhatsApp cannot access encrypted communications and that it will fight the case.
The filing follows a Commerce Department probe that was abruptly closed after an investigator circulated preliminary findings that Meta stores and can view WhatsApp messages, according to people familiar with the matter.
Paxton filed the case in Harrison County with Keller Postman, the firm that helped Texas win a $1.4 billion Meta facial-recognition settlement in 2024.

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