Twitter launches encrypted DMs behind a paywall

In a brand new assist doc, Twitter has detailed what you’ll be able to anticipate from the primary model of the platform’s encrypted direct messages. Maybe most notably, to have the ability to ship and obtain encrypted messages, you’ll should pay Twitter for the power to take action. Platforms like WhatsApp, Messenger, Sign, and iMessage already supply encrypted messaging totally free, so having to pay for the function on Twitter could be a tough tablet to swallow.

In line with the doc, encrypted DMs are solely obtainable if you’re a verified person (anyone who pays for Twitter Blue), a verified group (a corporation that pays $1,000 per thirty days), or an affiliate of a verified group (which prices $50 per thirty days per particular person). Each the sender and recipient have to be on the newest model of the Twitter app (on cell and internet). And an encrypted DM recipient should comply with the sender, have despatched a message to the sender previously, or settle for a DM request from the sender sooner or later.

If you’re an individual who can ship encrypted messages to anyone who can obtain them, you’ll see a lock toggle whilst you’re drafting a message. In an encrypted dialog, you’ll additionally see a small lock icon subsequent to the avatar of the particular person you’re chatting with. Encrypted DMs can be separate from unencrypted ones.

Encrypted DMs at present have a couple of limitations and a really massive flaw. You’ll be able to solely ship them in one-on-one conversations; Twitter says it’ll “quickly” carry the function to teams. You’ll be able to solely ship textual content and hyperlinks. And Twitter warns that it doesn’t have protections in opposition to man-in-the-middle assaults. “In consequence, if somebody — for instance, a malicious insider, or Twitter itself because of a obligatory authorized course of — had been to compromise an encrypted dialog, neither the sender or receiver would know,” Twitter says.

The corporate is planning mechanisms to make man-in-the-middle assaults harder and alert customers if one occurs. “As Elon Musk stated, in terms of Direct Messages, the usual must be, if somebody places a gun to our heads, we nonetheless can’t entry your messages,” the corporate wrote. “We’re not fairly there but, however we’re engaged on it.”

Twitter additionally notes that whereas messages and reactions to encrypted DMs are encrypted, “metadata (recipient, creation time, and so on.) aren’t, and neither is any linked content material (solely hyperlinks themselves, not any content material they consult with, is encrypted).”

Encrypted DMs appear to be a precedence for Musk; it’s a function he spelled out as a part of “Twitter 2.0” for workers in November. However blue checkmarks are already unpopular sufficient, and I doubt that forcing you to pay for an necessary function you’ll be able to simply get totally free elsewhere goes to enhance their popularity.