Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has reacted to the lawsuit against Meta regarding WhatsApp’s privacy and encryption. He claimed that the platform isn’t secure, adding that their research found numerous “attack vectors”.
As per Bloomberg, a group of international plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against Meta at the US District Court in San Francisco on Friday, January 23. This group, which features individuals from Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico, and South Africa, alleges that Meta can read messages between users. It raised questions about its privacy and end-to-end encryption.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov reacted to this news on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, writing:
“You’d have to be braindead to believe WhatsApp is secure in 2026. When we analyzed how WhatsApp implemented its “encryption”, we found multiple attack vectors.”
Notably, Pavel Durov has previously spoken about his desire to protect encryption on Telegram. In April 2025, he even claimed that the company would rather leave a market rather than compromise on public data. He wrote in a public Telegram channel (h/t Tech Radar):
“Unlike some of our competitors, we don’t trade privacy for market share. In its 12-year history, Telegram has never disclosed a single byte of private messages.”
This came after a provision was introduced in France to introduce backdoors in these platforms to allow law enforcement authorities to access messages. However, the bill was rejected.
Also Read: What is Pavel Durov’s net worth? Telegram’s CEO offers to buy jewelry stolen from the Louvre in Paris and donate it to Louvre in Abu Dhabi
Elon Musk reacts to lawsuit against Meta regarding WhatsApp’s encryption
Elon Musk also shared his thoughts on the lawsuit against Meta. He claimed that these messaging platforms aren’t secure and urged people to use his platform, XChat. The Tesla founder wrote on X on Monday:
“WhatsApp is not secure. Even Signal is questionable. Use 𝕏 Chat.”
XChat is a messaging platform that Elon Musk launched in June last year. He claimed that it was built on Rust, an encryption model similar to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Meanwhile, Meta has denied allegations against it, as a spokesperson for the company stated:
“Any claim that people’s WhatsApp messages are not encrypted is categorically false and absurd. WhatsApp has been end-to-end encrypted using the Signal protocol for a decade. This lawsuit is a frivolous work of fiction.”
He added that the Mark Zuckerberg-founded company “will pursue sanctions against plaintiffs’ counsel.” The plaintiffs, meanwhile, are represented by multiple attorneys from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Keller Postman, and Barnett Legal, among others.
Also Read: “Use X Chat”: Elon Musk reacts after lawsuit alleges Meta can read encrypted WhatsApp chats
Ex-Meta employee filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the company last year
A former Meta employee named Attaullah Baig filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the company at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in September last year. He alleged that he discovered multiple “cybersecurity failures” in WhatsApp, leading to concerns of user privacy.
Baig, who joined the company in 2021, alleged that he “discovered that approximately 1,500 engineers had unrestricted access to user data, including sensitive personal information.” He added that he informed his seniors of these issues, and soon after, he started receiving “negative performance feedback.”
Baig was later fired from his position as the head of security in February 2025 during a round of layoffs, with the company citing “poor performance”. Meta, meanwhile, denied these allegations.
