Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a consumer privacy lawsuit on May 21 against Meta Platforms Inc. and its subsidiary WhatsApp LLC for deceiving millions of Texans regarding the security of their messaging encryption.
Filed in a Harrison County district court, the state’s petition alleges that the platform’s assurances of total user confidentiality are fundamentally false.
WhatsApp has built its global user base of three billion people by marketing its services as a secure communications platform utilizing default end-to-end encryption. This design is advertised to ensure that message contents, photographs, and calls stay strictly between the sender and the recipient, explicitly promising that “not even WhatsApp” can view them.
However, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) alleges that internal company investigations, whistleblower accounts, and federal data reviews have revealed these security benchmarks are false. The state’s lawsuit claims that Meta retains structural tools to bypass encryption, granting employees and external contractors unauthorized access to review user conversations.
The state’s enforcement action relies on a series of recent federal and corporate data disclosures. The petition highlights an April 2026 federal investigative report by a U.S. Commerce Department agent, who concluded that there is “no limit to the type of WhatsApp message that can be viewed by Meta.”
State prosecutors assert that Meta routinely stores, maintains access to, and reviews purportedly private user records. Specifically, the OAG notes that third-party contractors acting on Meta’s behalf within Texas were among the personnel enabled to pull and inspect message contents after they had been transmitted.
The lawsuit, brought under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA), seeks an immediate permanent injunction to block the companies from making further false privacy claims. It also includes civil penalties and a court order barring Meta from accessing Texans’ communications without consent.
Meta has rejected the state’s claims and will fight the lawsuit in court. Company spokesperson Andy Stone issued a statement clarifying that WhatsApp cannot access individuals’ encrypted communications and pledged to defend the platform’s documented security record.
“Texans deserve to know whether their private communications are indeed truly private,” Attorney General Ken Paxton said.
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a DTPA lawsuit against Meta and WhatsApp, alleging the companies falsely claim user messages are inaccessible.
Sources:
- Office of the Texas Attorney General, Press Release: Attorney General Paxton Files Landmark Lawsuit Against Meta and WhatsApp for Lying About Privacy Measures, May 21, 2026
- The State of Texas v. Meta Platforms, Inc. and WhatsApp, LLC, No. 26-0393 (Harrison Cnty. Dist. Ct. Petition filed May 21, 2026)
- Office of the Texas Attorney General, Press Release: Attorney General Ken Paxton Launches Investigation Into Meta Glasses to Protect Texans’ Privacy, May 20, 2026
- [Reuters / KERA News: Texas sues Meta, WhatsApp over encryption privacy claims, May 21-22, 2026]