Client Alert: Texas v. Meta and WhatsApp: A New Front in the Battle Over Encryption, Privacy Marketing, and Consumer Protection | Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP
https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/client-alert-texas-v-meta-and-whatsapp-2979500/
Publish Date: 2026-05-28 07:24:00
Source Domain: www.jdsupra.com
On May 21, 2026, the Texas Attorney General filed suit against Meta Platforms, Inc. (Meta) and WhatsApp, LLC (WhatsApp) in the 71st Judicial District Court of Harrison County. The complaint, brought under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices, Consumer Protection Act (DTPA), Tex. Bus. & Com. Code Ann. § 17.41 et seq., alleges that Meta and WhatsApp engaged in false, misleading, and deceptive acts and practices by representing to consumers that WhatsApp communications were fully private and inaccessible, even to WhatsApp and Meta, when, in fact, the defendants allegedly could access plaintext communications in at least some circumstances.
The Core Allegation: A Gap Between Promise and Practice
WhatsApp’s marketing has long been emphatic: “Your privacy is our priority. With end-to-end encryption on WhatsApp, your personal messages, photos, calls and more stay between you and the people you choose, meaning not even WhatsApp can see them.” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reinforced this claim in sworn testimony before the United States Senate, asserting that “we do not see any of the content in WhatsApp, it’s fully encrypted . . . . Facebook systems do not see the content of messages being transferred over WhatsApp.” Every WhatsApp chat features a banner at the top of the screen reinforcing the message that conversations are end-to-end encrypted.
However, the petition alleges that these assurances are false. Citing a special agent for the Office of Export Enforcement within the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, the complaint reports that the agent examined claims that Meta employees and contractors had the capability to view WhatsApp message content and concluded those claims were meritorious. According to reporting referenced in the petition, “Meta stores and can view WhatsApp messages” and “Meta can and does view and store all the text messages, photographs, audio, and video recordings” in an “unencrypted format.” The…
