End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is currently being tested for chats “between some people,” according to Facebook, which announced an update on its long-awaited intentions to enable E2EE by default in Messenger this week.
Facebook presently gives Messenger users the choice to enable E2EE for each individual chat, but security-conscious users tend to be the minority who accept such opt-in programs. Making end-to-end encryption the default for a chat platform used by more than a billion people globally will be a significant step toward enhancing security. Arguments with governments about how E2EE affects their ability to combat crime are also expected to result.
Due to end-to-end encryption, only participants can see the content of communications sent between users on Facebook. This makes it considerably more difficult for other parties like hackers or government police to eavesdrop on digital communications, though it’s still possible.
Although Facebook’s parent company Meta has been gradually enhancing the levels of encryption on its many chat platforms in recent years, these efforts have not yet been coordinated. The same protocol used by industry-standard secure messenger Signal is used by default to encrypt chats on WhatsApp. Opt-in encryption for Instagram DMs is also being tried, and Messenger offers E2EE with its “disappearing messages” feature.
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in the US, where digital traces like app chats will be used as evidence in the prosecution of newly criminalized abortions, Facebook has been under fire for not making E2EE the default on Messenger. Last was demonstrated this week in a case when Facebook complied with a search order issued by the police to turn over the Messenger chat logs of a Nebraskan teen and her mother, which resulted in the two being charged with violating the state’s previous abortion regulations.
Facebook previously claimed that the delay in implementing E2EE as the default on all of its chat platforms was due to the challenge of incorporating such technology into apps used by billions of people and the necessity to strike a balance between user privacy and security. The business reaffirmed that it is on schedule to make E2EE the default for all conversations and calls on Messenger “in 2023” in its update today.
The company also revealed a feature called “protected storage” that will encrypt cloud backups of users’ Messenger chat histories in addition to the latest test of default E2EE.
“[W]e’re testing secure storage to back up those messages in case you lose your phone or want to restore your message history on a new, supported device,” said the company. “As with end-to-end encrypted chats, secure storage means that we won’t have access to your messages unless you choose to report them to us.”
The option to unsend messages is also being tested, as is the addition of encryption to hands-free communications sent on Messenger using the company’s Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses. Other new capabilities being tested on Messenger include the syncing of deleted messages across devices.
