Direct messages could soon supersede Signal as the go-to text messaging platform for people privacy-conscious like Tesla CEO Elon Musk. In an interview with Wired, Musk said that he wants DMs to be “much more secure” than current platforms like Signal, which are currently encrypted. Burying private communications within a messaging app’s thread structure makes it difficult for outsiders to see what’s being said, and protects them from prying eyes – even if the messaging app falls into the hands of someone who wants to gain access to your conversations. This is especially important given recent events such as Facebook’s data breach scandal, in which Cambridge Analytica obtained personal information on 87 million people without their consent. Twitter has been working on making direct messages more secure for some time now: earlier this year, it rolled out features that let users mute individual DMs and limit how many people can message
The ability to reply to individual DMs, use any reaction emoji, and encryption is a big update for social media users. It will make messaging more personal and accessible for everyone.
Aiming to roll out ability to reply to individual DMs, use any reaction emoji & encryption later this month
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2023
We are excited to roll out the ability to reply to individual DMs later this month! This will help keep communication between players organized and minimalize confusion. We plan on including a reaction emoji and encryption so that messages are private and secure. Thank you for your patience as we work towards this goal!
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Twitter is introducing end-to-end encryption for all direct messages on the platform in an attempt to make the conversations more private. This new feature will also be available for group chats, though it’s unclear whether everyone will have access to it by default. Twitter has long been one of the few platforms that doesn’t offer end-to-end encryption, making it vulnerable to attack from hackers. By offering this protection, Twitter is hoping to appease its users who are increasingly concerned about their privacy
Encrypted DMs could be a way for Twitter to keep its users closer together, but the social network has abandoned its efforts in the past. Last year, app researcher Jane Manchun Wong discovered new code suggesting that Twitter had resumed its work on the feature under new management. Whether or not this is true remains to be seen, but encrypted DMs would make it easier for users to communicate privately without fear of others seeing what they are sending.
It seems that Twitter is working on some new features to make conversations more secure. First, they are considering adding banners at the top of conversations to indicate that they are protected through end-to-end encryption. Additionally, designer Andrea Conway showed off a concept in February which indicates that DMs will have a banner at the top of a conversation to indicate that it is protected through this method as well. It’s clear that Twitter is trying to make its user’s conversations as secure as possible, making sure no one can eavesdrop on them or steal their information.
The latest update to Twitter includes several new features meant to mimic popular chat apps. These include the ability to react to tweets with emojis, and a new feature that allows users to create their own reactions. This move follows similar announcements from other chat apps, such as WhatsApp and Telegram, who have both introduced paid features that allowusers more control over their messaging experiences. While some may see these moves as evidence of waning influence for Twitter, others see it as an effort by the platform to remain competitive in an ever-growing field.
