A judge dismissed a lawsuit alleging that WhatsAppproperty of Meta Platforms Inc., can access users’ encrypted messages and has made false claims about the privacy and security of its chat service.
U.S. District Judge Rita Lin on Thursday night dismissed the lawsuit filed by an international user group, but said they can review it and refile it.
The proposed class action lawsuit alleged that, although WhatsApp It was marketed as a private, secure messaging service with end-to-end encryption, Goal had illegally intercepted, read and stored users’ personal messages.
The plaintiffs, including people from Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa, alleged that Goal stores the content of user communications and can be accessed by employees. The lawsuit cites “whistleblowers” as people who helped bring this information to light, although it does not specify who they are.
In his opinion, Ling concluded that the complaint contained “insufficient information about the basis of the complainants’ knowledge to make the claims viable.”
“While we respectfully disagree with some of the court’s findings, we look forward to providing more details based on our testimony as whistleblowers, which is extensive,” he said. Adam Wolfson plaintiffs’ attorney, in an email.
Goal stated that any assertion that “the messages of WhatsApp are not encrypted is categorically false.”
“This lawsuit has always been a complete work of fiction and we are pleased that, in dismissing it, the judge determined that the plaintiffs did not provide sufficient facts or information,” he stated Goal in a statement.
The San Francisco judge said the plaintiffs could “potentially cure” deficiencies in their lawsuit by providing more details.
He also rejected a request for Goal to impose sanctions on plaintiffs for filing a “factually baseless” lawsuit and maintaining the complaint “despite contrary evidence showing that their allegations were false.”
Lin stated that the evidence presented by Goal “do not conclusively rule out the possibility that the complainants’ allegations are true.”
He United States Department of Commerce abruptly closed an investigation into allegations that Meta was able to access encrypted messages from WhatsAppas reported BloombergNews in April. The investigation was suspended shortly after an agency investigator contacted other federal officials earlier this year to share his findings so far and attempt to coordinate ongoing investigative work.
