In a stunning escalation of privacy concerns, a group of international WhatsApp users has launched a lawsuit against Meta in a California federal court. The suit accuses the tech behemoth of systematically collecting and scrutinizing private conversations, undermining the app’s core selling point of ironclad end-to-end encryption.

Representing users from diverse nations like India, Brazil, and South Africa, the plaintiffs argue that Meta retains full chat histories accessible to select employees, betraying trust built over years. They demand class-action status to amplify their collective grievance against what they call a global deception.

Meta hit back hard, labeling the claims ‘utterly groundless.’ Insiders point to WhatsApp’s decade-long use of the battle-tested Signal Protocol, which mathematically guarantees message inaccessibility to anyone but endpoints. The company promises to dismantle the suit through rigorous court challenges.

Tracing back, WhatsApp debuted on iOS in late 2009, quickly scaling to Android in 2010 and hitting 200 million users within four years. Its 2014 acquisition by Facebook—now Meta—for a staggering $19 billion marked a pivotal moment, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg framing it as a step toward universal connectivity.

With 3 billion-plus active users worldwide, WhatsApp dominates messaging. This legal showdown could reshape perceptions of digital privacy, forcing regulators and users alike to probe deeper into Big Tech’s black boxes.