Musk Launches Twitter’s New Encrypted Messaging, but With Big Caveat: “Don’t Trust It Yet”
Elon Musk on Thursday announced the official launch of Twitter’s new encrypted direct messaging (DM) function, urging users to give it a try, but warning that the encryption feature in the early version should not be trusted.
“Early version of encrypted direct messages just launched,” Musk stated in a Thursday tweet. “Try it, but don’t trust it yet.”
Direct messages sent on Twitter will be encrypted end-to-end, meaning that private messages can only be read by the sender and recipient.
Musk stated in an earlier post on Wednesday that the sophistication of the encryption feature will grow “rapidly” following the launch of the preliminary version. “The acid test is that I could not see your DMs even if there was a gun to my head,” he said.
With the rollout now official, Twitter joins other platforms like Signal and WhatsApp in providing users with an encrypted messaging service, though not all Twitter users will have access to it—at least for now.
Twitter stated in a post on its support site that the encryption feature is only available to people who pay for Twitter Blue or are affiliated with a verified Twitter account. Only messages containing text and links are encrypted, while media and other attachments are not yet supported.
