WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart hits back at Elon Musk over app 'not secure' remark amid Meta privacy lawsuit

Meta has pushed back on allegations that it can secretly read users' private messages on WhatsApp, with the messaging platform's head, Will Cathcart, dismissing the claims as ‘totally false’.

Cathcart's remarks were directly aimed at billionaire Elon Musk's claims that WhatsApp is ‘not safe’, and that users should rather switch to X's messaging service as a safer alternative for communication.

“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,” Cathcart said in an X (formerly Twitter) post.

These sharp remarks from Meta and rival company executives come amid renewed scrutiny of message security on WhatsApp after an international group of plaintiffs sued Meta platforms on Monday. The lawsuit accused the company of making false privacy claims.

‘Headline seeking lawsuit’ — WhatsApp chief responds

The complaint makes serious claims that Meta employees can gain access to any user messages through an internet system, which means they can bypass the encryption that WhatsApp has marketed as its core privacy feature for the past many years.

“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 on X.

A spokesperson for Meta also responded to the allegations earlier, stating that the lawsuit was “frivolous”, along with announcing that the company “will pursue sanctions against plaintiffs’ counsel,” Bloomberg reported.

According to WhatsApp, its encrypted chats are enabled by default, with an in-app message stating that “only people in this chat can read, listen to, or share” the messages exchanged between two or more people.

Feud between Musk and Mark Zuckerberg

Elon Musk, who owns rival company X, has had a longstanding rivalry with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, which has included business disagreements over data practices, AI and rockets.

The feud was sparked in September 2016 after a collaboration between the two billionaires did not go well, as Zuckerberg’s $200 million satellite exploded during a pre-launch test on one of Musk’s SpaceX rockets.

In his latest tweet on the Meta privacy row, Musk also questioned Signal, which is a privacy-focused app endorsed by whistleblowers like Edward Snowden. Snowden said in a tweet earlier that he can vouch for the Signal app, noting it is secure and that he uses the platform every day.

The lawsuit remains underway, with industry experts, legal analysts, and market watchers closely tracking its progress as they await further updates and clarity on the next stages of the case.