On Monday, Telegram founder Pavel Durov revived a contentious online discussion by sharing a screenshot of a chat from 2004 involving then-teenage Mark Zuckerberg, who is now CEO of Meta Platforms, Inc. The conversation, which took place on AOL Instant Messenger, appears to show Zuckerberg dismissing early Facebook users’ trust in sharing their personal information.
This private exchange highlights an era when Facebook was in its infancy and features Zuckerberg questioning why early users would willingly provide sensitive data such as email addresses and photographs. He is seen not only acknowledging users’ voluntary sharing but also seeming to deride their willingness to trust him with personal details.
Durov posted the chat on social media platform X, bringing it back into public focus with commentary suggesting the primary difference since then is the scale at which such trust now operates. Whereas Facebook once served only thousands, its WhatsApp subsidiary now commands billions of users worldwide. According to Durov, despite ongoing controversies, users continue to place confidence in Meta's assurances about privacy, a trust he challenges.
The timing of Durov's comments aligns with a fresh legal confrontation against Meta. In the U.S. District Court for San Francisco, a group of international plaintiffs has filed a lawsuit accusing Meta of misleading WhatsApp users regarding their privacy protections. The allegation centers on claims that Meta marketed WhatsApp as employing full end-to-end encryption, while in reality, it allegedly retains capabilities to store, study, or otherwise access significant quantities of user communications.
Meta has categorically rejected these charges, labeling the lawsuit frivolous and reaffirming that WhatsApp’s encryption architecture prevents the company from reading users' private messages. The company’s spokesperson outlined that WhatsApp cannot access encrypted messages because the encryption keys reside solely on users' devices.
The debate gained added prominence when entrepreneur Elon Musk publicly commented, describing WhatsApp as "not secure." In response, WhatsApp's head, Will Cathcart, countered this critique, emphasizing WhatsApp’s technical safeguards. He reiterated that WhatsApp has no access to the encryption keys, which are stored locally on users' phones, making it impossible for the company to read private messages. Cathcart also characterized the lawsuit as lacking substantive merit and suggested it was primarily intended to generate headlines. Notably, this lawsuit was filed by the same legal firm that previously represented NSO Group, an Israeli spyware developer infamous for using Pegasus spyware to target journalists and high-profile figures.
In a related development, WhatsApp previously secured a $168 million jury award against NSO Group over a 2019 hacking campaign designed to exploit its platform. This history adds further complexity to the ongoing battle over user privacy and platform security.
Mark Zuckerberg himself has addressed the resurfacing 2004 chat in prior interviews. In a 2010 statement to The New Yorker, he expressed regret over the remarks and emphasized his personal growth since then. He noted that such early communications should not solely define his character or leadership style. As of now, Meta has not issued any immediate public statement in response to these recent events.
Regarding market activity, Meta’s shares closed at $706.41 on Monday, reflecting a decline of approximately 1.41%. In after-hours trading, the stock saw an additional slight decrease of 0.058%, according to Benzinga Pro data. Despite the current legal and reputational challenges, Meta’s stock ranks favorably in quality metrics within Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings and shows positive price trends across short, medium, and long-term horizons.
Given these dynamics, Meta’s handling of user privacy issues remains under close scrutiny, especially as the company balances trust, regulatory pressures, and technological security measures in an evolving digital landscape.