Elon Musk wants end-to-end encryption on Twitter DMs but experts say that it could not be that simple. Elon Musk put out a barrage of tweets regarding his plans for Twitter just two days after announcing his purchase of the social media company. One, in particular, stood out due to its broad appeal.
“Twitter DMs should have end-to-end encryption like Signal, so no one can spy on or hack your messages,” he wrote.
Musk entered a long-running discussion among engineers and privacy advocates about the level of encryption that apps and platforms should provide to their customers with that statement. Growing privacy concerns have prompted inquiries about how many users data tech companies collect, and several platforms, including the Signal messaging service Musk mentioned, have begun to promote end-to-end encryption as a crucial feature.
Because of this capacity, communications are only visible to senders and recipients, and the platform is unable to access them. While some apps, such as Signal and WhatsApp, provide end-to-end encryption by default, others, such as Telegram, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger, allow users to choose to use encrypted communications.
Meta, which owns WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger, has announced that by 2023, all of its products would have default end-to-end encryption.
Despite years of calls from industry professionals and advocates, Twitter has yet to establish a plan to implement end-to-end encryption for its direct communications. After a large hack of the site in mid-2020, which affected the accounts of several famous figures, including former US President Barack Obama and Musk himself, the cries grew louder. (While end-to-end encryption may not have prevented the attack because the hackers gained direct access to the accounts, experts believe it would limit the types of data attackers could target in the future.)