It’s not just the Twitter brand name that is no more – direct messages are also being replaced by X Chat. The new private messaging feature finally brings end-to-end encryption (E2EE) to the platform – though with one question-mark …
The social network has announced that its new Chat feature is rolling out on iPhone and the web, with Android to follow.
Twitter DMs were encrypted but didn’t use end-to-end encryption, meaning that the company or anyone who hacked the company’s servers would be able to read messages. This has been corrected in chat, which finally uses E2EE.
Other features include voice and video calling, file-sharing, the ability to edit and delete messages, and choosing to either be notified when someone takes a screenshot or block them altogether.
As Engadget notes, the rollout has been delayed by reported problems in applying end-to-end encryption to group messages.
An article on X’s help center states that “unlike before, group messages and media can now be encrypted,” though it notes that associated metadata (including information about the recipient) is not encrypted.
Oddly, however, the company warns that a malicious insider could compromise an encrypted chat. This is one of the scenarios which should be prevented by the use of E2EE, though the UK’s security services did come up with a potential vulnerability known as “the Ghost proposal.”
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