John,

Big news: Meta has finally started rolling out default end-to-end encryption for one-on-one calls and messages on Messenger.¹ This move will ensure millions of users’ messages remain between the sender and intended recipient, and will stop Meta from sharing your messages with law enforcement. It’s an enormous win that you helped make happen through our Make DMs Safe campaign² and other privacy advocacy over the years.

Now that Meta has taken this step, other major platforms like Slack and Discord have no excuse but to follow suit. Take a moment to tweet at Slack and Discord, demanding they quit dragging their feet and give users the private messaging tools we deserve.

We launched Make DMs Safe in the fall of last year, after news broke of Facebook handing over private abortion-related messages between a Nebraska mom and her teen to law enforcement.³ Since then, we’ve seen the powerful impact of our pressure on major messaging platforms, and particularly Apple^4,5 and Google.⁶  

Discord even started testing end-to-end encryption for video and voice calls over the summer, BUT they haven't said anything about end-to-end encryption for messages.⁷ With the recent Meta announcement, this is a key opportunity to escalate our pressure on both Discord and Slack, two companies that are still lagging behind on basic protections for DM. Tweet at Slack and Discord to demand they fall in line with other major tech companies and protect our messages with end-to-end encryption immediately.

💡If you’re not on X, take action by signing the Make DMs Safe open letter––we’ll be sure your message reaches decision makers at each company.

Together,

Leila and the team at Fight

P.S. This victory doesn’t mean Meta is off the hook: group chats on Messenger and all direct messages on Instagram are still not secured by default end-to-end encryption––to name just a few of the issues that still need to be addressed. That’s why we won’t be letting up the pressure on Meta or any of the other companies on our Make DMs Safe campaign page until these privacy features are fully implemented across all platforms.

1) Meta: https://about.fb.com/news/2023/12/default-end-to-end-encryption-on-messenger/

2) Make DMs Safe: makedmssafe.com

3) Forbes: http://forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2022/08/08/facebook-abortion-teen-dms/

4) Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-plans-new-encryption-system-to-ward-off-hackers-and-protect-icloud-data-11670435635

5) Fight for the Future: https://www.fightforthefuture.org/news/2023-11-17-apple-paves-the-way-to-expand-end-to-end-encryption-by-announcing-plans-to-adopt-rcs

6) CNET: https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/google-messages-now-uses-end-to-end-encryption-by-default/

7) Alternative To: https://twitter.com/AlternativeTo/status/1691043492871495680?s=20