Elon Musk warns WhatsApp and Signal are insecure, pushes X Chat

Entrepreneur Elon Musk has publicly challenged the security credentials of two leading messaging applications, WhatsApp and Signal, while promoting his own platform's alternative. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO used his social media site, X, to make the claims, directly impacting global conversations about digital privacy and data security.

Musk's direct claims on platform security

In a post on Monday, Musk left little room for ambiguity, stating, "WhatsApp is not secure. Even Signal is questionable. Use X Chat." To bolster his argument, he shared a recent news report detailing a legal challenge against WhatsApp's parent company, Meta. This lawsuit, filed in a US federal court in San Francisco, accuses the tech giant of misleading users about the privacy of its billion-user chat service.

The lawsuit alleging privacy breaches

The legal filing, brought by an international group of plaintiffs, contends that Meta and WhatsApp have the capacity to "store, analyze, and can access" the vast majority of users' supposedly private communications. The plaintiffs accuse the companies of fraud. The lawsuit reportedly cites information from unnamed whistleblowers, though it provides no specific details about their identities or evidence.

Meta's firm denial of the allegations

A spokesperson for Meta, Andy Stone, has categorically rejected the lawsuit's core allegation. In an emailed statement, Stone labeled the claim that WhatsApp messages are not private as "categorically false and absurd." He emphasized, "WhatsApp has been end-to-end encrypted using the Signal protocol for a decade. This lawsuit is a frivolous work of fiction." The dispute highlights the ongoing global tension between user privacy expectations and the data practices of major technology firms.