Twitter launches encrypted DMs for some users

Twitter launches end-to-end encryption for direct message, but only for verified users or those who pay for Twitter Blue. The company says it is “not quite there yet” with encryption, but is “working on it.”

[W]hile messages themselves are encrypted, metadata (recipient, creation time, etc.) are not, and neither is any linked content (only links themselves, not any content they refer to, is encrypted)…If someone – for example, a malicious insider, or Twitter itself as a result of a compulsory legal process – were to compromise an encrypted conversation, neither the sender or receiver would know.

Musk says he expects encrypted messaging on Twitter “to grow in sophistication rapidly” and wants the company’s standard to be that it cannot see users’ messages even “if someone puts a gun to our heads.” Still, he warns DM encryption users to:

Try it, but don’t trust it yet.

Early version of encrypted direct messages just launched.

Try it, but don’t trust it yet.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2023