John,

When Roe v. Wade was overturned, we went into crisis mode.

It was immediately clear to us that the tech-enabled surveillance that we have been fighting for years would be used by state law enforcement agencies to target people for seeking, providing, or facilitating abortion care.

We had several full-team meetings, and reached out to our allies in the reproductive rights movement, particularly frontline groups on the ground in states where abortion is already severely restricted.

Based on what we learned by talking to the people most impacted, we launched MakeDMsSafe, a campaign calling on major tech companies to implement end-to-end encryption by default on all private messages, to ensure that they can’t be used to persecute people just for seeking reproductive care.

Support Fight's Encryption Campaigns

When a teenager from Nebraska was arrested based on Facebook messages that had been obtained with a subpoena, Meta became a clear target for this campaign.¹ Meta receives over 100,000 government requests for data every year, and they comply with upwards of 80% of them.² For everyone’s safety and right to privacy, Meta had to make messages end-to-end encrypted by default.

We knew it’d be an uphill battle to ramp up pressure on Meta, but here’s what we did:

• Organized a coalition and sent Meta a letter from more than 80 organizations representing abortion access, LGBTQ+ rights, privacy advocates, and more

• Placed digital ads and IRL billboards calling out Meta’s complicity in abortion criminalization

• Met with Meta to discuss our demands and brought coalition partners to highlight their concerns

• Highlighted end-to-end encryption as a human rights issue in the media and got coverage in high-profile outlets.^3,4,5

Last week we got the news: Facebook Messenger will be end-to-end encrypted by default. It will take a bit of time to fully roll it out (and you should definitely update the app if it’s on your phone), but this is really happening.

Support Fight in 2024

It’s hard to fully grasp the scope of this victory. About 1.3 billion people use Messenger every month.⁶ Although most conversations are banal and benign, that doesn’t mean they aren’t under surveillance by law enforcement. Criminalization of abortion or the erosion of LGBTQ+ rights makes it clear just how important the fight for end-to-end encryption is. Conversations must be truly private for people to discuss important but sensitive topics, like plans for a protest, conversations about sexual identity, helping an immigrant family member get a job, or information about abortion care. Moving forward, if the cops try to issue a subpoena to Meta to get these messages, the company won’t be able to hand them over. This is a really good thing.

We’re only able to run such tough campaigns against huge players like Meta because of supporters like you. We have big plans to expand the fight for end-to-end encryption and pro-privacy legislation in 2024, but we really need your help. We’re heading into the new year with a major fundraising gap because we’ve focused on running hard campaigns like this one rather than on end-of-year donations. Can you help close our fundraising gap so we can stay focused on the crucial fights ahead?

The best way you can support our work is to chip in today—whether it’s $3 or $10 or $100, it really makes a huge difference. And, if you want to just “set it and forget it” to keep us running all year, start a monthly donation today.

Here’s to more mega-victories in 2024! We appreciate your support.

Together,

Caitlin and the team at Fight ❤️

Footnotes:

1. Facebook turns over mother and daughter’s chat history to police resulting in abortion charges | The Verge

2. Government Requests for User Data - Transparency Center | Facebook Transparency Report

3. Make DMs Safe' campaign pressing tech giants on encryption grows post-Roe | Washington Post

4. Court cases targeting abortion highlight digital privacy concerns | PBS News

5. Meta could protect abortion-related DMs, advocates say | Popular Science