Meta to Test End-to-End Encryption on Messenger
The updated security measures will be tested across a limited number of Instagram and Facebook accounts.
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New ways to secure messages are coming to Meta platforms.
Meta will test new end-to-end encryption features on its Messenger app in the coming weeks, the company said in a blog post Thursday. Some users of the app will have their messages encrypted end to end by default and have the ability to store encrypted backups of their messages.
The timing of the test is unrelated to a high-profile abortion case in Nebraska that became public this week, a Meta spokesperson said via email. In that case, the company complied with a search warrant and handed over to police the messages of a 17-year-old accused of having an illegal abortion.
End-to-end encryption of those messages and their storage would have prevented Meta from complying with the search warrant.
"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," Sara Su, product management director for Messenger trust, said in the blog post.
Meta has had Thursday's announcement planned for months, the spokesperson said. The company previously announced steps toward default end-to-end encryption in August 2021 and January 2022. It also expanded encrypted messages on Instagram in February to all adults in Ukraine and Russia in response to Russia's invasion and war.
Secure storage tests will begin this week, though only on Android and iOS devices. Other ways of accessing Messenger, like on desktop, aren't included in the test.