Texas sues Meta and WhatsApp over encryption privacy issues.

The Texas Attorney General's Office on Thursday filed a lawsuit against WhatsApp and its parent company Meta Platforms Inc, accusing them of misleading consumers about the strength and scope of WhatsApp's encryption measures. A spokesperson for Meta denied the allegations. The lawsuit, filed in Harrison County court, alleges that despite WhatsApp and Meta's ability to access "virtually all" private communications on the messaging app, they still falsely assure users that WhatsApp messages are encrypted. "WhatsApp markets its service as secure and encrypted, but it has not lived up to these promises," Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said on social media that the allegations in the lawsuit are false and that WhatsApp cannot access users' encrypted communications. The lawsuit seeks to prohibit Meta and WhatsApp from accessing Texas users' WhatsApp messages without their consent and seeks economic penalties.