A class-action lawsuit alleging illegal access to users’ WhatsApp messages has raised skepticism among cryptography experts and privacy lawyers. Owned by Meta, WhatsApp claims to secure conversations through end-to-end encryption, ensuring that only the sender and receiver can view message content, excluding the company and third parties. This encryption underpins WhatsApp’s reputation as a privacy-focused platform. Although Meta has faced scrutiny over its data policies and user information usage, experts point out that proving unauthorized access to encrypted messages is highly challenging due to the technical protections in place. WhatsApp has implemented multiple security measures over the years to safeguard user privacy, including data encryption and protection protocols. While Meta has been criticized for using user data for advertising and other purposes, allegations affecting the confidentiality of messages have generally been dismissed. The ongoing legal proceedings could set significant precedents for digital platform responsibilities regarding user privacy. However, current expert consensus suggests that, given the strength of end-to-end encryption, substantiating the claims in this case will be difficult.
Source: decrypt
