Meta and WhatsApp face class action over alleged private message interception

A significant class action lawsuit has been lodged against Meta Platforms Inc., WhatsApp, and consultancy firm Accenture, alleging the wrongful interception of private messages.

The legal challenge, filed by plaintiffs Brian Y. Shirazi and Nida Samson in a California federal court on 25 March 2026, contends that the service's "end-to-end encryption" is a fraudulent misrepresentation.

According to the filing, whistleblowers informed federal investigators that Meta employees and third-party contractors possessed "broad access to the substance of WhatsApp messages that were supposed to be encrypted and inaccessible."

The lawsuit argues that Meta and WhatsApp failed to obtain user consent to read, store, or share private communications with third parties.

Legal documents highlight that WhatsApp’s marketing explicitly claims "not even WhatsApp" can view personal messages, a statement the plaintiffs describe as deceptive.

“WhatsApp’s secret interception, reading, storing, accessing and/or viewing of the messages ... constitutes a serious invasion of plaintiffs’ and class members’ privacy,” the complaint states.

Brian Y. Shirazi and Nida Samson are currently seeking statutory, compensatory, and punitive damages, alongside a jury trial.

In response, a Meta spokesperson dismissed the allegations as "categorically false and absurd," maintaining that the platform has utilised the Signal protocol for a decade to ensure message security.

This litigation follows a previous legal setback for Meta, which was sued last month for its alleged role in a stock pump-and-dump scheme.

The current proceedings remain pending in the US District Court for the Northern District of California as the firm continues to face global scrutiny over its data handling practices.