WhatsApp pushes back on lawsuit claims, says Meta cannot access private chats

WhatsApp has issued a public response to renewed allegations that its private chats are not fully secure, stating that claims suggesting Meta can access users’ messages are incorrect.

In a post on social media platform X, WhatsApp said that all personal messages on the platform remain protected by end-to-end encryption and cannot be read by either WhatsApp or its parent company, Meta Platforms.

Your WhatsApp messages are private. We use the open-source Signal protocol to encrypt them.

•⁠ ⁠Encryption happens on your device
•⁠ ⁠Messages are encrypted before leaving your device
•⁠ ⁠⁠Only the intended recipient has the keys to decrypt messages
•⁠ ⁠The…

— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) January 27, 2026

The company said WhatsApp uses the open-source Signal protocol to encrypt messages, the same technology employed by Signal. According to WhatsApp, messages are encrypted on the sender’s device before being transmitted, and only the intended recipient holds the cryptographic keys required to decrypt them.

WhatsApp added that it does not store or have access to message encryption keys, meaning message content remains unreadable even if data were intercepted or stored on servers.

The clarification follows the filing of a lawsuit in the US District Court in San Francisco that challenges Meta’s claims around WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption. The plaintiffs, who include users from Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa, allege that Meta and WhatsApp store, analyse and are able to access private user communications. The complaint cites unnamed whistleblowers and accuses Meta and its leadership of misleading users about message privacy.

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WhatsApp has consistently maintained that ownership by Meta does not provide the company with visibility into private messages. End-to-end encryption, the company said, ensures that only the sender and recipient can read message contents.

However, WhatsApp has previously acknowledged that certain metadata, such as information about who users communicate with and when, may be collected and shared with Meta, subject to regional regulations and policies. This distinction between message content and metadata has frequently been a source of confusion in public debates around privacy.

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The company’s latest statement comes as Meta expands artificial intelligence features across its platforms and explores advertising in products such as WhatsApp Status and Channels. WhatsApp has reiterated that private chats will not be used for advertising purposes or to train AI systems.