A former top security executive at WhatsApp filed a federal lawsuit Monday alleging that parent company Meta systematically violated cybersecurity regulations and retaliated against him for reporting the failures.

Attaullah Baig, who served as head of security for WhatsApp from 2021 to 2025, claims that approximately 1,500 engineers had unrestricted access to user data without proper oversight, potentially violating a 2020 US government order that imposed a $5 billion penalty on the company.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, alleges that Meta failed to implement basic cybersecurity measures, including adequate data handling and breach detection capabilities.

According to the 115-page complaint, Baig discovered through internal security testing that WhatsApp engineers

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