WhatsApp users' data may be stolen; a former employee made serious allegations against Meta, case registered.

A former WhatsApp employee has filed a lawsuit against Meta. It states that WhatsApp has many such security flaws, due to which users' data can be stolen.

Indian-origin cyber security expert Ataullah Beg has filed a case against Meta. Beg was the cyber security head of Meta-owned WhatsApp from 2021 to 2025. He alleges that WhatsApp's system has many such cyber security flaws, due to which users' data can be compromised. He says that when he informed the higher officials including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about this security flaw, his point was ignored. Also, the company took action against him and fired him from the job.

What are the allegations made in the lawsuit?

The lawsuit states that about 1,500 engineers of Meta have direct access to WhatsApp user data and no monitoring is being done on it. WhatsApp developers can steal users' contact information, IP addresses and profile photos from this data. In this lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California, Beg said that he discovered these security flaws after starting working at WhatsApp. These flaws are violating federal laws as well as Meta's legal responsibilities. Even after complaining, no effort was made by the company to stop this. Beg said that three days after he complained, he started getting negative feedback about his work.

What has Meta said about this?

Meta has denied Beg's allegations while reacting to them. The company's spokesperson said that this has become a pattern, in which employees who are fired on the basis of poor performance go among the people with incomplete claims. The spokesperson said that the company is proud of its strong record of protecting people's privacy.