There is this THEORY (!) WhatApp is actually cross-financed by governments, so it can stay online as the biggest communication surveillance "device" in human history. We are talking about a 100% uptime free service that literally has become the center of human remote communication in major parts of the world.

Encryption is a shady topic, and there is a realistic chance there is a backdoor in the methods WhatApp uses to encrypt content, history has shown this is realistic.

Governments have done way worse things.