It's not this. I'm not worried about the messages, which are encrypted anyway.
For the below, I'm speaking specifically about US law, but it will probably be similar in any nation with a common law system.
There is a different "privacy standard" for the content of a message, versus the metadata of a message (information about the message itself).
Basically the cops need no justification to get your metadata, whereas the actual contents of your communications are highly privileged.
And boy are you fucked if the cops intercept a package full of illegal drugs addressed to you two weeks after the metadata indicates your cell phone messaged the WhatsApp number of a known vendor.
If you think you're too small fry to go to jail, that's okay. Live your best life. I guess I'm just one of those losers that wears a seatbelt and doesn't commit crimes via WhatsApp.
I should add that I'm not really blaming Tracy here, QSC probably (I hope) just got a nice new CRM package for WhatsApp and it's making his life so much easier he doesn't even want to use email anymore.
So, Tracy, I'm sorry if I'm fucking up a good thing for you here. But uh guys QSC transacts in illegal drugs, not party balloons. If you want me to use a messenger app, I'm willing to use Signal, that doesn't record any metadata. Meta is just about the least privacy-respecting company on the fucking planet. Using their product for drug deals is lunacy.