US-based tech giant Meta earlier this year found itself in a major class-action lawsuit in a US court. The lawsuit alleges that popular messaging app WhatsApp misled users with its end-to-end encryption claims while secretly enabling access to private messages. However, the company has strongly denied the allegations, the controversy is again gaining attention on X (formerly Twitter), with Elon Musk outright calling WhatsApp unsafe for users, fueling the long-standing feud with Mark Zuckerberg and the broader debate around messaging privacy.
Musk replied to the viral post highlighting the ongoing legal case. Musk wrote on X, “Can’t trust WhatsApp.” In another post, he requested users to shift to his own platform, X, for more secure audio and video calls. This is not the very first time that Musk has criticised Mark Zuckerberg and Meta. He often crticise Zuckerberg and his company while promoting X Chat as a more secure and private alternative and the ongoing lawsuit has given another chance to Musk to callout his competitor.
Can’t trust WhatsApp https://t.co/Ts55gVXqkD
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2026
Telegram CEO Slams WhatsApp
This time Musk is not alone to critic, in the viral thread, Telegram CEO Pavel Durav also criticised WhatsApp. He claimed that the app’s encryption could be misleading and accused it of sharing user data with third parties. He wrote on X “WhatsApp’s “encryption” may be the biggest consumer fraud in history — deceiving billions of users. Despite its claims, it reads messages and shares them with third parties. Telegram has never done this — and never will,”
WhatsApp’s “encryption” may be the biggest consumer fraud in history — deceiving billions of users. Despite its claims, it reads users’ messages and shares them with third parties. Telegram has never done this — and never will 🤝 pic.twitter.com/2DYguybgoU
— Pavel Durov (@durov) April 9, 2026
However, it’s worth noting that Telegram does not offer end-to-end encryption by default. Its standard chats are cloud based which means the messages are stored on Telegram servers, only the “secret chats” feature uses full end-to-end encryption, making its privacy model fundamentally different, and less robust than WhatsApp’s default encryption system but experts suggest that this is only on paper.
Lawsuit against WhatsApp
The key point of the lawsuit against messaging platform WhatsApp is the class-action lawsuit alleging that WhatsApp allows employees, contractors, and third parties to access private messages. The lawsuit claims that the internal system at Meta can potentially bypass encryption, enabling message reviews, especially in cases regarding moderation or flagged content. It also names external partners such as Accenture and refers to what it describes as a “Kleptographic backdoor.”
However, the Meta has rejected these allegations. On Thursday (9th April 2026), the company also responded publicly to Musk’s comments, stating “The claims in this lawsuit are categorically false and absurd. WhatsApp has been end-to-end encrypted using the Signal protocol for a decade, so your messages cannot be read by anyone other than the sender and recipient.”
The company also clarified that there is not any so called “backdoor” in their system. While some messages may be reviewed, users report chats or if harmful content is flagged. However, it does not mean that it has blanket access to private conversation.
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Syed Ziyauddin is a media and international relations enthusiast with a strong academic and professional foundation. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Media from Jamia Millia Islamia and a Master’s in International Relations (West Asia) from the same institution.
He has work with organizations like ANN Media, TV9 Bharatvarsh, NDTV and Centre for Discourse, Fusion, and Analysis (CDFA) his core interest includes Tech, Auto and global affairs.
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