Texas AG sues Meta over WhatsApp end-to-end encryption

The Texas attorney general has sued Meta, alleging that WhatsApp does not provide the end-to-end encryption the company has long promised. Meta has said since at least 2016 that WhatsApp encrypts messages on a sender’s device with keys available only to the receiver, and the company has maintained it cannot read message plaintext.

In a complaint filed Thursday, Texas AG attorneys said Meta’s claims are false and that the company can and does read unencrypted WhatsApp messages. The suit relies on a Bloomberg article about a Commerce Department email that reportedly said there was no limit to the type of WhatsApp message Meta could view; the complaint does not indicate the attorney general’s office obtained that email and cites only the news report for support.

It also notes that Meta employees receive plaintext messages reported by other users, but those messages are taken from the reporting party’s device after decryption with that party’s keys.

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