U.S. authorities have opened a sensitive case affecting the privacy of hundreds of millions of users, launching a broad investigation into allegations that former employees and contractors of Meta Platforms had the ability to access the content of encrypted WhatsApp messages—claims the company firmly denies, describing them as technically impossible.
According to a report, the investigation began in 2025 and focuses on suspicions related to user privacy violations, after testimonies from former contractors who confirmed they were able to view WhatsApp messages during their employment, despite the app’s reliance on end-to-end encryption.
Meta confirmed that these claims completely contradict the app’s technical architecture, stating that WhatsApp, its employees, and its contractors are unable to access the content of encrypted messages because the encryption keys are stored only on users’ devices.
The report indicated that some contractors claimed to have had unrestricted access to WhatsApp messages while working on content review, without clarifying the technical method or legal framework that allowed this. The investigation also examined security vetting procedures for foreign employees involved in content review, including workers from Israel, India, Ireland, and China.
This development comes in the context of a tense relationship between Meta and U.S. authorities concerned with privacy protection, as regulators imposed a record $5 billion fine on the company in 2019 for failures related to protecting user data.
In subsequent years, the company also faced lawsuits from users who accused Meta and WhatsApp of retaining the ability to access private messages, despite repeated assurances that the service uses full encryption that prevents any third party from viewing the content.
Information security experts confirm that WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption is based on digital keys that never leave users’ phones, preventing the company from reading messages, with access limited only to specific data related to reporting inappropriate content or technical information about the sender and recipient.
This case highlights the increasing pressure social media platforms face from governments, which demand access to user information in cases of terrorism and organized crime, amid growing concerns about digital privacy protection.
WhatsApp is one of the world’s leading messaging apps, having relied for years on full end-to-end encryption, which has made it a constant point of debate between technology companies and security agencies, amidst an ongoing conflict between the requirements of security and law enforcement on one hand, and users’ right to privacy on the other.
