Musk asks users to switch to X Chat amid WhatsApp privacy breach claims

Tech billionaire and X owner Elon Musk on Tuesday criticised Meta-owned WhatsApp and Signal, calling them insecure, asking users to switch to X Chat instead.

 

Sharing a post that claimed WhatsApp can read users’ private chats despite end-to-end encryption, Musk said, “WhatsApp is not secure. Even Signal is questionable. Use X Chat.”

WhatsApp accused of storing personal data

Meta Platforms has been sued by an international group of plaintiffs over claims related to WhatsApp’s privacy and data security, according to a Bloomberg report published on Sunday.

 

The group includes plaintiffs from Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa. The lawsuit alleges that Meta and WhatsApp “store, analyse, and can access virtually all of WhatsApp users’ purportedly ‘private’ communications”. It also claims that company employees have access to this data.  However, Head of WhatsApp Will Cathcart has denied these claims. In an X post on Tuesday, Cathcart said, "WhatsApp can’t read messages because the encryption keys are stored on your phone and we don’t have access to them. This is a no-merit, headline-seeking lawsuit brought by the very same firm defending NSO after their spyware attacked journalists and government officials."

 

What WhatsApp says about encryption

WhatsApp says its “end-to-end” encryption ensures that messages are coded and can be read only by the sender and the recipient, not even by the company. Meta states that this feature is enabled by default on the platform.

 

WhatsApp’s in-app message to users says, “Only people in this chat can read, listen to, or share” the messages exchanged on the app.

What is X Chat?

X Chat was launched last year by Musk’s xAI on the social media platform X. It was presented as a privacy-focused alternative to messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram.

 

Announcing the launch in June last year, Musk said X Chat comes with encryption, disappearing messages, and the ability to send all types of files. It also supports audio and video calling.

 

He added that the system is built using the Rust programming language and a new architecture with what he described as “Bitcoin-style” encryption.

 

The platform also allows users to make audio and video calls without linking a phone number, across devices.

How many users does WhatsApp have?

According to Statista, WhatsApp had around three billion monthly active users as of March 2025. This is a sharp rise from over two billion users in March 2020, making it one of the most widely used messaging apps in the world.

 

In comparison, estimates suggest that X has around 557–611 million monthly active users as of 2025. However, the exact number of users who actively use X Chat is uncertain.