Compliance Management, Privacy, Threat Management

Twitter drops project to encrypt direct messages

Twitter has scrapped its plans to encrypt its users' direct messages, a project previously reported on by the New York Times in light of heavy government surveillance.

The social media giant's plans were intended to further secure the privacy of its users by blocking hackers and government entities, such as the National Security Agency (NSA), from snooping and intercepting private messages sent directly to and from users.

In a recent report by The Verge, unnamed sources revealed the latest on the matter. They suspect the project wasn't completely shut down, but rather pushed down its priority list.

Twitter is known as a leader in privacy, launching “forward secrecy” in November 2013 and most recently pushing back at the U.S. government and asking for permission to share more information regarding data requests.

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