Meta Wins Dismissal of Lawsuit Over WhatsApp Privacy Claims

The proposed class-action suit alleged that Meta illegally intercepted, read and stored the personal messages of WhatsApp users despite marketing claiming otherwise.

A judge dismissed a lawsuit alleging that Meta Platforms Inc.’s WhatsApp is able to access users’ encrypted messages and has made false claims about the privacy and security of its chat service.

US District Judge Rita Lin late Thursday threw out the suit by an international group of users, but said they can revise and refile it.

The proposed class-action suit alleged that while WhatsApp was marketed as a private and secure messaging service with end-to-end encryption, Meta has illegally intercepted, read and stored the personal messages of users.

Read More: Lawsuit Claims Meta Can See WhatsApp Chats in Breach of Privacy

The plaintiffs, including people from Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa, claimed that Meta stores the substance of users’ communications and that workers can gain access to them. The complaint cites “whistleblowers” as having helped bring this information to light, though it doesn’t explain who they are.

In her ruling, Lin concluded there was “insufficient information in the complaint about the basis for the whistleblowers’ knowledge for the claims to be viable.”

“While we respectfully disagree with some of the court’s conclusions, we look forward to adding more detail on the basis for our whistleblower testimony, which is extensive,” Adam Wolfson, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in an email.

Meta said that any claim that “WhatsApp messages are not encrypted is categorically false.”

“This lawsuit has always been a complete work of fiction and we’re pleased that in dismissing it, the judge found that the plaintiffs failed to provide facts or sufficient information,” Meta said in a statement.

The San Francisco judge said the plaintiffs could “potentially cure” the deficiencies in their complaint by providing more details.

She also rejected a request from Meta to impose sanctions on the plaintiffs for filing a “factually baseless” suit and maintaining the complaint “in the face of contrary evidence proving that their claims were false.”

Lin said the evidence presented by Meta “does not conclusively preclude the possibility that the whistleblowers’ allegations are true.”

The US Commerce Department abruptly closed an investigation into allegations that Meta can access encrypted WhatsApp messages, Bloomberg News reported in April. The probe was shut down soon after an agency investigator contacted other federal officials early this year to share his conclusions “thus far” and try to coordinate ongoing investigative work.

The case is Dawson v. Meta Platforms Inc., Case No. 26-cv-00751 US District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).