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Meta Platforms Inc. has started fully encrypting personal messages on some of its apps by default, in a move likely to add fuel to the debate over online privacy.
In a blog post Wednesday night, Meta
META,
said it is rolling out default end-to-end encryption for chats and calls on its Messenger and Facebook apps, making “a safer, more secure and private service.” The Wall Street Journal reported the change will likely come to Instagram messages early next year.
“The extra layer of security provided by end-to-end encryption means that the content of your messages and calls with friends and family are protected from the moment they leave your device to the moment they reach the receiver’s device,” Loredana Crisan, director of Messenger, said in the blog post. “This means that nobody, including Meta, can see what’s sent or said, unless you choose to report a message to us.”
That includes law enforcement agencies, who have argued that encrypted messages can shield criminals, including child predators and terrorists.
See more: Meta sued by New Mexico for alleged failure to shield children from predators
In a previous statement, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said it opposes end-to-end encryption if there is no exception for detecting sexual abuse of children, warning that “millions of incidents of abuse will remain hidden.”
Fight for the Future, a digital-rights organization, hailed Meta’s decision Wednesday, saying “Meta and other Big Tech companies’ business models depend on data collection and surveillance. And law enforcement agencies love to abuse these systems to expand their own surveillance.”
“The truth is that more surveillance is not better for anyone,” Fight for the Future said in a statement, adding that it will continue to push for other messaging apps, such as X, Discord and Slack, to follow suit with default end-to-end encryption.
