{"id":253489,"date":"2026-05-23T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T16:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/23\/texas-ag-sues-whatsapp-for-lying-about-privacy\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T13:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T17:25:10","slug":"texas-ag-sues-whatsapp-for-lying-about-privacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/23\/texas-ag-sues-whatsapp-for-lying-about-privacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas AG Sues What\u00adsApp for ‘Lying About Pri\u00adva\u00adcy’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas AG Sues What\u00adsApp for ‘Lying About Pri\u00adva\u00adcy’<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/uk.pcmag.com\/security\/165142\/texas-attorney-general-paxton-sues-whatsapp-for-lying-about-privacy<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-05-23 12:30:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: uk.pcmag.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Meta and WhatsApp, claiming that Meta \u201cmisled consumers regarding the strength and scope\u201d of WhatsApp\u2019s privacy protections, though encryption experts have criticized his claims.<\/p>\n

WhatsApp provides end-to-end (E2EE) encryption, meaning no one, except the two parties involved, can read the messages, including Meta. Paxton, a Republican currently running for US Senate, claims that \u201cinvestigations and insider accounts” have shown Meta’s claims about being unable to access users’ messages to be “blatantly inaccurate.\u201d He alleges that reports suggest WhatsApp employees have been able to access user communications, and that \u201cmessage content can be pulled and viewed after the message has been sent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am suing to protect Texans\u2019 privacy and ensure that WhatsApp by Meta does not mislead Texans by unlawfully accessing private conversations and data,\u201d the AG says.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges violations of Texas’s Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act (DTPA), which allows individuals and businesses to sue companies for false, misleading, or deceptive business practices.<\/p>\n

In January, WhatsApp was hit with a class-action lawsuit that said its end-to-end encryption is a sham. Meta, however, called the claims “false and absurd.” More recently, Meta says it has tried to engage with the plaintiffs in that case, but isn’t getting anywhere. The \u201cso-called \u2018whistleblowers\u2019 behind the complaint are confused, deeply misinformed, or acting in bad faith,” Meta says.<\/p>\n

Paxton is citing a Bloomberg report from April 2026, in which a special agent with the Office of Export Enforcement allegedly examined claims that Meta employees and contractors could view WhatsApp message content. The case was later closed.<\/p>\n

Benjamin Dowling, a senior lecturer in cryptography at King\u2019s College London and a co-author of the study, tells Ars Technica that, \u201call the evidence we are aware of points towards WhatsApp…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Texas AG Sues What\u00adsApp for ‘Lying About Pri\u00adva\u00adcy’ https:\/\/uk.pcmag.com\/security\/165142\/texas-attorney-general-paxton-sues-whatsapp-for-lying-about-privacy Publish Date: 2026-05-23 12:30:00 Source Domain:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":253491,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.pcmag.com\/imagery\/articles\/05lsYYPh6T8m4zS0mu0UlIk-1.fit_lim.size_1200x630.v1779536599.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-privacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253489"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253489"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253492,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253489\/revisions\/253492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}