What to know

  • X has temporarily suspended its encrypted direct messages feature that was in testing for the past six months.
  • The company cited technical challenges and security vulnerabilities as reasons for the pause.
  • X plans to relaunch the feature after addressing these issues, but hasn't provided a specific timeline.

X has put its encrypted direct messages feature on hold after testing it for approximately six months. The company announced the decision yesterday through its official engineering account.

The encrypted DMs feature was initially rolled out to a limited number of premium subscribers last December as part of X's push toward becoming a more privacy-focused platform. It allowed users to send messages that could only be read by the sender and recipient.

According to the announcement, the pause comes after the company's security team identified several technical issues that could potentially compromise the encryption protocol. These vulnerabilities were discovered during the final stages of testing before a wider release.

"We take user privacy extremely seriously and want to ensure our encryption is bulletproof before making it available to everyone," stated the post from X's engineering team.

The company didn't provide specific details about the nature of the security concerns, which has led to speculation among cybersecurity experts. Some suggest the issues might relate to key management or metadata protection.

This setback represents another delay for a feature that X owner Elon Musk promised shortly after acquiring the platform in 2022. Encrypted messaging has become a standard offering across many social platforms including Signal, WhatsApp, and Telegram.

X's competitors have used this pause to highlight their own encryption features. Signal posted yesterday that "proper encryption isn't something you rush" while promoting its own security protocols.

The company hasn't provided a timeline for when users can expect the feature to return. However, they assured users that the engineering team is "working around the clock" to address the issues.

For users who were part of the testing group, the encrypted chat option will disappear from their interface in the coming days as X rolls back the feature. The company has advised these users that any previously encrypted messages will remain accessible but will no longer benefit from end-to-end encryption.

Via: techcrunch.com