Telegram Founder Mocks WhatsApp Privacy Claims

(MENAFN) A sweeping class-action lawsuit targeting Meta Platforms, Inc. has ignited fresh controversy over WhatsApp's encryption practices, with Telegram founder Pavel Durov seizing the moment to attack his rival's security credentials.

The legal challenge, lodged in a US district court last week, brings together plaintiffs spanning multiple continents—including Australia, Brazil, and India—who accuse Meta of misleading users about WhatsApp's privacy protections.

At the heart of the complaint lies a fundamental question: Does WhatsApp's widely touted end-to-end encryption actually shield users from Meta's own surveillance capabilities?

According to the lawsuit, despite WhatsApp's in-app assurance that "only people in this chat can read, listen to, or share" messages, the reality is starkly different. The filing alleges Meta and WhatsApp "store, analyze, and can access virtually all of WhatsApp users' purportedly 'private' communications." Whistleblowers reportedly provided the information underpinning these claims, though their identities and specific evidence remain undisclosed.

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone issued a forceful rebuttal. "Any claim that people's WhatsApp messages are not encrypted is categorically false and absurd," Stone declared, dismissing the legal action as "a frivolous work of fiction."

Durov, the Russian tech entrepreneur behind Telegram, wasted no time capitalizing on the controversy. "You'd have to be braindead to believe WhatsApp is secure in 2026," Durov wrote on X Monday, ridiculing the notion that Meta cannot access user communications. "When we analyzed how WhatsApp implemented its 'encryption', we found multiple attack vectors."

The Telegram CEO has maintained a consistent stance against WhatsApp as "a tool of surveillance," urging abandonment of the platform particularly after Facebook (now Meta) acquired it in 2014. In 2022, Durov suggested that regularly discovered WhatsApp vulnerabilities weren't mistakes but likely "backdoors."

Yet Durov's own platform has faced intense scrutiny. Following French authorities' allegations that Telegram's moderation failures enabled criminal networks, he announced policy changes in September 2024. The updated Telegram Privacy Policy now states that IP addresses and phone numbers of users who violate the platform's rules "can be disclosed to relevant authorities in response to valid legal requests."

The debate extends beyond corporate rivalry. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declared last year that all messaging platforms are "absolutely transparent systems" to intelligence agencies. Russian officials have attacked both WhatsApp and Telegram for alleged inconsistencies in responding to government data demands, with some legislators characterizing WhatsApp's Russian operations as a "legalized breach of national security."

The lawsuit challenges whether WhatsApp's implementation of the Signal protocol—the encryption standard underpinning its privacy claims—truly functions as advertised. The outcome could reshape how messaging platforms market security features to billions of users worldwide.

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