Overview
- An international class-action complaint filed Jan. 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleges Meta can access content from supposedly end-to-end encrypted WhatsApp chats.
- The suit cites unnamed whistleblowers and describes a purported 'kleptographic backdoor' and an internal tool that could reveal messages by entering a user ID.
- Meta and WhatsApp reject the claims as technically impossible, emphasizing that WhatsApp uses the Signal protocol with keys stored on users' devices.
- Following reports that U.S. officials examined the allegations, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security said it is not investigating and called the assertions unsubstantiated.
- Meta says it will seek sanctions against filing firm Quinn Emanuel, while independent security experts quoted in coverage question the plausibility of the alleged access.