Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Accuses WhatsApp of Privacy Fraud

Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov has accused WhatsApp of misleading users about privacy, arguing that Telegram offers stronger protection for sensitive content.

Durov has repeatedly criticized Meta-owned WhatsApp’s security model, dismissing claims that the app cannot access user communications.

In a series of posts on Sunday, Durov described WhatsApp’s claim of “end-to-end encryption by default” as “a giant consumer fraud,” alleging that most private messages ultimately end up stored in plain-text cloud backups on Apple and Google servers.

"Add the fact that WhatsApp stores and discloses who you chat with, and the picture is dire," he wrote, further claiming that Apple and Google provide backed-up data from the service to third parties “thousands of times per year.”

In response to a user who said he only shares intimate images via Telegram, Durov replied: “Thanks for the trust – your nudes are safe with us.”

Telegram, however, does not use end-to-end encryption by default. According to the company’s own documentation, only its ‘Secret Chats’ feature offers full end-to-end protection, while regular messages are stored in its cloud. Critics have identified cloud backups as a weak point in messaging privacy, as data stored outside encrypted channels may be accessible under legal requests or breaches.

Security researchers say that while WhatsApp’s core messages are end-to-end encrypted, its reliance on optional cloud backups can undermine these protections, potentially exposing user data if additional safeguards are not enabled.

Meta has long maintained that messages are protected with end-to-end encryption and cannot be accessed by the company. It also offers optional end-to-end encrypted backups for users who enable the feature.

In January, a major class-action lawsuit filed against Meta Platforms in a US district court by an international group of plaintiffs from several countries accused the company of making false claims about the privacy of its WhatsApp service.

Durov has long criticized the platform as a “tool of surveillance,” urging users to avoid it entirely, particularly after its 2014 acquisition by Meta, then known as Facebook. In 2022, he warned that vulnerabilities regularly discovered in the app were not accidental but likely backdoors.

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone rejected the allegations, saying any claim that WhatsApp messages are not encrypted is “categorically false and absurd,” and described the lawsuit as “a frivolous work of fiction.”