Texas Attorney General filed a suit in Harrison County claiming Meta and WhatsApp falsely advertised that messages are fully encrypted while maintaining access to virtually all user communications. The complaint contends these practices violate the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by misleading consumers on privacy protections.

Meta spokesman Andy Stone asserted that allegations are false and that the company cannot access users’ private messages. He reiterated that WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption prevents any third party, including Meta, from reading message contents.

The lawsuit requests a court order prohibiting Meta and WhatsApp from accessing Texans’ messages without consent and seeks unspecified monetary fines under state consumer protection law. It references federal investigations and a whistleblower report to bolster the claim of deceptive encryption practices.