Matt Mullenweg’s Messages Went Missing Amid a Failed Backup and Two Lost Devices, Court Filing Reveals - The Repository

Skip to content

WP Engine v Automattic

Matt Mullenweg’s Messages Went Missing Amid a Failed Backup and Two Lost Devices, Court Filing Reveals

An unsealed filing details why so few of Mullenweg’s WhatsApp and Signal messages surfaced in discovery, including a failed backup, an 11-month delay, and two lost devices.

Rae Morey

Aug 11, 2026

A newly unsealed court filing in WP Engine’s ongoing legal battle with Automattic has revealed CEO Matt Mullenweg’s phone wasn’t forensically copied until nine months after Automattic’s obligation to preserve evidence began, and when it was copied, none of his WhatsApp or Signal messages were captured. And two other devices that might have held the same messages have gone missing — Mullenweg lost a phone while traveling, and he doesn’t know the whereabouts of a laptop.

Last month, WP Engine asked the U.S. District Court to sanction Automattic and Mullenweg in a motion alleging they destroyed evidence and repeatedly misrepresented their efforts to preserve it. The hosting company wants the court to instruct the jury to presume the lost messages would have supported its interference, defamation, and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act claims. WP Engine also wants the court to dismiss Automattic’s seven trademark counterclaims outright.

WP Engine filed the motion on July 28 and many of the specific allegations were redacted. But those details became public last week after Automattic consented to unsealing sections about evidence preservation, while asking the court to keep passages about its internal trademark licensing and pricing strategy under seal.

RELATED NEWS<br>WP Engine Accuses Automattic of Destroying Evidence, Asks Court to Dismiss Trademark Counterclaims

Federal Judge Orders Matt Mullenweg to Explain Missing Messages in WP Engine Dispute

WP Engine and Automattic Trade Accusations of Withheld Evidence in Flurry of Court Filings

Automattic Again Pushes to Dismiss WP Engine’s Antitrust Claims Amid Dispute Over Redacted Excerpts

U.S. Court Orders WP Engine to Reveal Strategy Deck Sentence, Finds Mullenweg Was "Evasive" in Deposition

Automattic Wins Privilege Fight Over Pre-Lawsuit Trademark Strategy Slack Messages, Court Set to Rule on Motions to Dismiss

Much of the new detail comes from a sworn declaration by Jonathan Robins, who works for Automattic’s e-discovery firm. According to Robins, the first imaging of any of Mullenweg’s devices happened on April 17, 2025, nine months after Automattic’s obligation to preserve evidence began, six months after WP Engine filed suit, and two weeks after Automattic told WP Engine’s legal team in writing that it had "taken all reasonable steps to preserve relevant documents in this case, including with respect to Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp."

But according to Robins, the first imaging didn’t work because Mullenweg’s phone had been updated to a new version of iOS and the e-discovery firm’s software didn’t yet support it. He was only able to make a "logical" image of the phone, which didn’t include the encrypted data needed for WhatsApp or Signal.

It then took another 11 months to try again. A second copy on March 16, 2026, finally captured the data needed to decrypt the two messaging accounts. The total gap between the preservation duty coming into play and the successful capture was 20 months. WP Engine claims neither Automattic nor Robins has explained why it took so long.

WP Engine’s motion quotes from Mullenweg’s deposition testimony to make that point, and those passages are among the sections now unsealed. Asked why it took "almost a full year" to re-copy his phone, Mullenweg answered: "I don’t know." Asked how many disappearing messages he’d received during the 11-month gap, he said he didn’t know. When WP Engine’s lawyer pressed further, saying "And no one will ever know; right?" Mullenweg responded: "I — I don’t recollect, no."<br>ADVERTISEMENT

Neither of Mullenweg’s other two personal devices, a Pixel Fold phone and a MacBook laptop, was forensically imaged before they went missing, and Mullenweg conceded that disappeared messages "wouldn’t be transferred" to a new device anyway.

WP Engine also alleges Automattic misrepresented its preservation efforts to the court itself. In an October 6, 2025 joint letter brief, Automattic told the court that Mullenweg’s "responsive Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp communications have been preserved." WP Engine claims that representation was false, given that Robins’s own account puts the successful capture of WhatsApp and Signal data five months later.

In a May 5 declaration, Mullenweg admitted he had used disappearing messages on all three platforms, but said it was only for "highly sensitive personal communications with romantic partners." WP Engine alleges that contradicted what Automattic’s lawyers had told them 13 months earlier, that Mullenweg "has not...