A digital war of words has escalated between WhatsApp head Will Cathcart and billionaire Elon Musk following a high-profile lawsuit alleging that Meta can bypass its own end-to-end encryption. The dispute centers on claims from an international group of plaintiffs that WhatsApp’s privacy promises are a "sham." Cathcart has dismissed the allegations as "categorically false," while Musk has seized the moment to label the platform insecure and promote his own "X Chat" alternative.

The controversy was ignited by a 51-page lawsuit filed in a San Francisco federal court by users from Australia, India, South Africa, and Mexico. The filing alleges that despite the "end-to-end encrypted" labels seen by billions of users, Meta employees can allegedly access message content via internal "task" widgets.

The lawsuit points to "courageous whistleblowers" who claim that engineers can grant access to private chats for moderation or operational tasks without rigorous oversight. According to the plaintiffs, these messages appear to internal staff almost in real-time, effectively bypassing the cryptographic locks that Meta has championed for a decade.

WhatsApp Is Not Secure, Claims Elon Musk

The lawusit provided an opening for Elon Musk, who has long been a critic of Meta’s data practices. Musk posted to his millions of followers that "WhatsApp is not secure," and went a step further by claiming that "even Signal is questionable." He urged users to switch to X Chat, the encrypted messaging service integrated into his social media platform. "WhatsApp is not secure. Even Signal is questionable. Use X Chat," he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Will Cathcart’s Sharp Rebuttal

Will Cathcart, the global head of WhatsApp, took to X (formerly Twitter) to address the claims and Musk's criticism directly. He characterized the legal challenge as a "no-merit, headline-seeking lawsuit" and reiterated that the platform’s security architecture makes it mathematically impossible for the company to read messages.

Cathcart also noted that the law firm behind the suit has previously represented the NSO Group - the makers of Pegasus spyware - suggesting the litigation is motivated by industry rivalries rather than genuine privacy concerns.

"This is totally false. WhatsApp can’t read messages because the encryption keys are stored on your phone and we don’t have access to them. This is a no-merit, headline-seeking lawsuit brought by the very same firm defending NSO after their spyware attacked journalists and government officials," Cathcart wrote in response to Musk's post.

WhatsApp Head Will Cathcart Dismisses Elon Musk’s Privacy Attacks, ‘Headline-Seeking’ Lawsuit

WhatsApp Privacy Concerns

This is not the first time WhatsApp’s privacy has been under fire. In 2021, a controversy erupted over "metadata" collection, and in 2025, former security head Ataullah Baig alleged that systemic vulnerabilities existed within the app's defenses.

Currently, WhatsApp maintains that while it can see "metadata" (who you message and when), the "substance" of your conversations remains invisible to them. The outcome of this new lawsuit could determine whether that distinction remains a pillar of digital trust or is exposed as a marketing facade.

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TruLY Score 5 – Trustworthy | On a Trust Scale of 0-5 this article has scored 5 on LatestLY. It is verified through official sources (X Accounts of Elon Musk and Will Cathcart). The information is thoroughly cross-checked and confirmed. You can confidently share this article with your friends and family, knowing it is trustworthy and reliable.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 27, 2026 03:41 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).