US Authorities Investigate Claims Meta Can Read Encrypted WhatsApp Messages
US authorities have reportedly conducted investigations into allegations that Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, possesses the capability to read users' encrypted messages on the popular messaging platform. This development follows a lawsuit filed last week, which asserts that Meta "can access virtually all of WhatsApp users' purportedly 'private' communications", raising significant concerns about digital privacy and security.
Legal Battle and Denials
Meta has vehemently denied these allegations, describing the lawsuit's claims as "categorically false and absurd". The company suggests that the legal action is a strategic move to support the NSO Group, an Israeli firm known for developing spyware used against activists and journalists. The NSO Group recently lost a lawsuit brought by WhatsApp, adding a layer of complexity to the current proceedings.
The law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, which filed the lawsuit against Meta, attributes the allegations to unnamed whistleblowers from several countries, including Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico, and South Africa. Interestingly, Quinn Emanuel is simultaneously representing the NSO Group in an appeal against a US federal court judgment that ordered it to pay $167 million to WhatsApp for violating terms of service with its Pegasus spyware.
Company Responses and Expert Opinions
Carl Woog, a Meta spokesperson, stated, "We're pursuing sanctions against Quinn Emanuel for filing a meritless lawsuit that was designed purely to grab headlines. This is the same firm that is trying to help NSO overturn an injunction that barred their operations for targeting journalists and government officials with spyware."
In response, Adam Wolfson, a partner at Quinn Emanuel, clarified, "Our colleagues' defence of NSO on appeal has nothing to do with the facts disclosed to us and which form the basis of the lawsuit we brought for worldwide WhatsApp users. We look forward to moving forward with those claims and note WhatsApp's denials have all been carefully worded in a way that stops short of denying the central allegation in the complaint – that Meta has the ability to read WhatsApp messages, regardless of its claims about end-to-end encryption."
Steven Murdoch, a professor of security engineering at UCL, expressed skepticism about the lawsuit, calling it "a bit strange". He noted, "It seems to be going mostly on whistleblowers, and we don't know much about them or their credibility. I would be very surprised if what they are claiming is actually true." Murdoch added that if WhatsApp were reading messages, it would likely have been discovered internally and could jeopardise the business, as "it's very hard to keep secrets inside a company".
Encryption and Privacy Concerns
WhatsApp markets itself as an end-to-end encrypted platform, meaning messages should only be readable by the sender and recipient, without interception by servers. This contrasts with apps like Telegram, which encrypt messages between users and its servers, potentially allowing the company access. A senior technology executive commented that while WhatsApp's privacy "leaves much to be desired" due to metadata collection, the idea of selectively accessing encrypted chat content is "a mathematical impossibility".
The Bloomberg report cites US Department of Commerce officials, though a department spokesperson labelled the assertions as "unsubstantiated". Woog reiterated Meta's stance, saying, "WhatsApp's encryption remains secure and we'll continue to stand up against those trying to deny people's right to private communication."
