Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched a lawsuit against WhatsApp and its parent company, Meta, alleging violations of data privacy for Texans. This legal action highlights growing concerns regarding how tech companies manage user data and privacy promises.
The lawsuit, announced on Thursday, claims that WhatsApp misleads its users by asserting that it provides “end-to-end encryption.” This feature is designed to ensure that only the sender and receiver can read the contents of their messages, effectively keeping them hidden from the company itself. Paxton’s action follows earlier lawsuits against Netflix and LG Electronics, both centered on privacy concerns, as he campaigns for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in a competitive runoff against incumbent John Cornyn.
In a statement, Paxton emphasized the importance of transparency for Texans regarding their private communications. He stated, “Texans deserve to know whether their private communications are indeed truly private. WhatsApp markets its services as secure and encrypted, but it does not deliver on those promises.” His lawsuit aims to protect the privacy of Texans and prevent WhatsApp from misleading users by unlawfully accessing their private conversations and data.
Meta, which acquired WhatsApp in 2014, has faced numerous allegations suggesting it can access users’ private messages. The company has consistently denied these claims. In response to the lawsuit, Meta spokesperson Rachel Holland asserted, “WhatsApp cannot access people’s encrypted communications and any suggestion to the contrary is false. We will fight this suit as we continue defending our strong record on protecting people’s messages.”
The lawsuit references whistleblower accounts that claim Meta does indeed have access to messages transmitted on WhatsApp. Additionally, a federal Commerce Department investigation into Meta was abruptly closed earlier this year, with an investigator noting in a memo that there appeared to be “no limit” to the types of WhatsApp messages that could be viewed by the company, as reported by Bloomberg.
This lawsuit is filed under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which serves as the state’s consumer protection law. Paxton argues that by making false claims about encryption in their marketing materials, Meta and WhatsApp have violated this law. The lawsuit, submitted to a state district court in Harrison County, seeks a permanent injunction to prevent the company from accessing users’ messages without consent, along with a $10,000 fine for each violation.
Paxton’s legal actions against large tech companies have been increasingly frequent, with this lawsuit against WhatsApp being the latest in a series of efforts to hold companies accountable for allegedly illegal data collection practices. Earlier this month, he filed a lawsuit against Netflix for purportedly collecting user data without consent and selling it to data brokers for targeted advertising. Furthermore, he has initiated an investigation into Meta regarding privacy concerns related to audio and video captured by the company’s Meta Glasses.
In a notable context of legal accountability, Meta previously agreed to a settlement of $1.4 billion with Texas earlier this year over allegations that it used facial recognition technology without user consent. Similarly, a $1.4 billion settlement was reached with Google over claims of illegal data collection practices.
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