SOCIAL
Meta Takes Next Steps in Messaging Encryption Push, with New E2E Features on Messenger and Instagram

Despite ongoing protests from various law enforcement groups and policy-makers around the world, Meta is pushing ahead with its plan to implement end-to-end encryption by default in all of its messaging apps, with the company today announcing that it’s testing a new secure storage process for backups of your end-to-end encrypted chats on Messenger, along with a range of other expanded encryption tests on Messenger and Instagram.
The main update is the addition of E2E encrypted chat back-ups for Messenger chats.
As explained by Meta:
“Your message history is important, and end-to-end encrypted Messenger conversations are currently stored on your device. With that in mind, we’re testing secure storage to back up those messages in case you lose your phone or want to restore your message history on a new, supported device.”
The process will see your messages stored in an encrypted server, which will only be accessible via PIN or a code generator. Meta has also reiterated that it won’t be able to access these messages, in line with encryption standards, which will enable secure back-ups of your chats, that you can then access from any device.
That could make it much easier when switching devices, while it will also move Messenger in closer parity to WhatsApp, which is the ultimate end goal of Meta’s broader messaging integration plan. Once the functionalities of all of its messaging platforms are in alignment, Meta will then be able to facilitate full cross-app messaging, and universally accessible inboxes, which could help to maximize its messaging tools.
In addition to this, Meta’s also rolling out automatic encryption of chats for some users.
“If you’re in the test group, some of your most frequent chats may be automatically end-to-end encrypted, which means you won’t have to opt in to the feature. You’ll still have access to your message history, but any new messages or calls with that person will be end-to-end encrypted.”

Which is a significant step in Meta’s broader messaging encryption plan, removing the opt-in element, and shifting people across to the more secure process, whether you want to or not.
Meta’s also testing new encrypted features, like ‘unsend messages’, the capacity to reply to Facebook Stories, and new ways to access your end-to-end encrypted messages and calls.
“For example, we plan to bring end-to-end encrypted calls to the Calls Tab on Messenger. End-to-end encrypted chats are also going hands-free with Ray-Ban Stories (English-only). That means, if you have an existing end-to-end encrypted chat with someone, sending a hands-free message on Messenger for Ray-Ban Stories will be end-to-end encrypted.”
Meta’s also taking steps to expand its messaging encryption tools on Instagram, with an expanded test of opt-in encryption for Direct chats.
“Last year, we started a limited test of opt-in end-to-end encrypted messages and calls on Instagram, and in February we broadened the test to include adults in Ukraine and Russia. Soon, we’ll expand the test even further to include people in more countries and add more features like group chats.”
Meta says that its initial test was only available to adults, but this new expansion will be made available to everyone.
“If you’re in the test group, you’ll see a prompt asking if you want to start an end-to-end encrypted chat, and a reminder of how to report messages.”
It’s the next stage in Meta’s broader messaging integration, which, as noted, continues to raise the ire of various law enforcement groups, who say that more encryption will only serve to protect criminals that operate within Meta’s apps.
The Home Office in the UK has been one of the most vocal opponents to Meta’s encryption plans, with the watchdog sending an open letter, co-signed by the ‘Five Eyes’ countries (along with India and Japan), back in October 2020, which urged the tech industry to provide ‘lawful access’ to encrypted communications for criminal investigations. Earlier this year, the UK government hired M&C Saatchi to create a media campaign to help amplify opposition to Meta’s end-to-end encryption plans, which highlighted the risks of child exploitation as a result of such protections.
Yet, there is also a counter perspective, with a report from the UK Information Commissioner finding that encrypting communications actually strengthens online safety for children “by reducing their exposure to threats such as blackmail, while also allowing businesses to share information securely”.
It’s not a definitive argument, and Meta’s leaning more into user privacy, which is largely in line with broader shifts around data protections and choice, which are being embedded in law in various regions.
These new updates are another step in that direction, which is still subject to debate and disagreement in various quarters.
SOCIAL
With outburst, Musk puts X’s survival in the balance

Even after Elon Musk gutted the staff by two-thirds, X, formerly Twitter, still has around 2,000 employees, and incurs substantial fixed costs like data servers and real estate
– Copyright POOL/AFP/File Leon Neal
Thomas URBAIN
Elon Musk’s verbal assault on advertisers who have shunned X (formerly Twitter) threatens to sink the social network further, with the tycoon warning of the platform’s demise, just one year after taking control.
“If somebody’s gonna try to blackmail me with advertising, go fuck yourself,” a visibly furious Musk told an interviewer in New York in front of an audience of the US business elite this week.
Musk was lashing out at the advertisers who had abandoned his platform after Media Matters, a left-wing media watchdog group, warned big companies that their ads were running aside posts by neo-Nazis.
Walmart on Friday was the latest to join the exodus, following the footsteps of IBM, Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal, Lionsgate and others.
The latest controversy broke earlier this month when Musk declared a tweet exposing an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory as the “absolute truth.”
Musk apologized for his tweet, even taking a trip to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but on Wednesday he targeted his anger squarely at advertisers.
“It doesn’t take a social media expert to know that publicly and personally attacking the people in companies that pay X’s bills is not going to be good for business,” said analyst Jasmine Enberg of Insider Intelligence.
“Most advertiser boycotts on social media companies, including X, have been short lived. There’s a potential for this one to be longer,” she added.
Musk said the survival of X could be at stake.
“What this advertising boycott is going to do is kill the company,” Musk said.
“Everybody will know” that advertisers were those responsible, he angrily added.
– Bankruptcy looms? –
Even before the latest bust up, Insider Intelligence was forecasting a 54-percent contraction in ad sales, to $1.9 billion this year.
“The advertising exodus at X could accelerate with Musk not playing nice in the sandbox,” said Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities.
According to data provided to AFP by market data analysis company SensorTower, as many as half of the social network’s top 100 US advertisers in October 2022 have already stopped spending altogether.
But by dropping X, “you are opening yourself up for competitors to step into your territory,” warned Kellis Landrum, co-founder of digital marketing agency True North Social.
Advertisers may also choose to stay for lack of an equivalent alternative.
Meta’s new Threads platform and other upstarts have yet to prove worthy adversaries for the time being, Landrum argued.
Analyst Enberg insisted that “X is not an essential platform for many advertisers, so withdrawing temporarily tends to be a pretty painless decision.”
Privately held, X does not release official figures, but all estimates point to a significant drop in the number of users.
SensorTower puts the annual fall at 45 percent for monthly users at the start of the fourth quarter, compared with the same period last year.
Added to this is the disengagement of dozens of highly followed accounts, including major brands such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, JPMorgan Bank and Starbucks as well as many celebrities and media personalities that have stopped or reduced usage.
The corporate big names haven’t posted any content for weeks, when they used to be an everyday presence.
None of the dozen or so companies contacted by AFP responded to requests for comments.
In normal conditions, Twitter or X “was always much larger than its ad dollars,” said Enberg.
It was “an important place for brands and companies to connect with consumers and customers,” she said.
Even after Musk gutted the staff by two-thirds, X still has around 2,000 employees, and incurs substantial fixed costs like data servers and real estate.
Another threat is the colossal debt contracted by Musk for his acquisition, but now carried by X, which must meet a payment of over a billion dollars each year.
In his tense interview on Wednesday, Musk hinted that he would not come to the rescue if the coffers run dry, even if he has ample means to do so.
“If the company fails… it will fail because of an advertiser boycott and that will bankrupt the company,” Musk said.
SOCIAL
Walmart says it has stopped advertising on Elon Musk’s X platform

Walmart said Friday that it is scaling back its advertising on X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter, because “we’ve found some other platforms better for reaching our customers.”
Walmart’s decision has been in the works for a while, according to a person familiar with the move. Yet it comes as X faces an advertiser exodus following billionaire owner Elon Musk’s support for an antisemitic post on the platform.
The retailer spends about $2.7 billion on advertising each year, according to MarketingDive. In an email to CBS MoneyWatch, X’s head of operations, Joe Benarroch, said Walmart still has a large presence on X. He added that the company stopped advertising on X in October, “so this is not a recent pausing.”
“Walmart has a wonderful community of more than a million people on X, and with a half a billion people on X, every year the platform experiences 15 billion impressions about the holidays alone with more than 50% of X users doing most or all of their shopping online,” Benarroch said.
Musk struck a defiant pose earlier this week at the New York Times’ Dealbook Summit, where he cursed out advertisers that had distanced themselves from X, telling them to “go f— yourself.” He also complained that companies are trying to “blackmail me with advertising” by cutting off their spending with the platform, and cautioned that the loss of big advertisers could “kill” X.
“And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company,” Musk added.
Dozens of advertisers — including players such as Apple, Coca Cola and Disney — have bailed on X since Musk tweeted that a post on the platform that claimed Jews fomented hatred against White people, echoing antisemitic stereotypes, was “the actual truth.”
Advertisers generally shy away from placing their brands and marketing messages next to controversial material, for fear that their image with consumers could get tarnished by incendiary content.
The loss of major advertisers could deprive X of up to $75 million in revenue, according to a New York Times report.
Musk said Wednesday his support of the antisemitic post was “one of the most foolish” he’d ever posted on X.
“I am quite sorry,” he said, adding “I should in retrospect not have replied to that particular post.”
SOCIAL
US Judge Blocks Montana’s Effort to Ban TikTok

TikTok has won another reprieve in the U.S., with a district judge blocking Montana’s effort to ban the app for all users in the state.
Back in May, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed legislation to ban TikTok outright from operating in the state, in order to protect residents from alleged intelligence gathering by China. There’s no definitive evidence that TikTok is, or has participated in such, but Gianforte opted to move to a full ban, going further than the government device bans issued in other regions.
As explained by Gianforte at the time:
“The Chinese Communist Party using TikTok to spy on Americans, violate their privacy, and collect their personal, private, and sensitive information is well-documented. Today, Montana takes the most decisive action of any state to protect Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party.”
In response, a collection of TikTok users challenged the proposed ban, arguing that it violated their first amendment rights, which led to this latest court challenge, and District Court Judge Donald Molloy’s decision to stop Montana’s ban effort.
Montana’s TikTok ban had been set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024.
In issuing a preliminary injunction to stop Montana from imposing a full ban on the app, Molloy said that Montana’s legislation does indeed violate the Constitution and “oversteps state power.”
Molloy’s judgment is primarily centered on the fact that Montana has essentially sought to exercise foreign policy authority in enacting a TikTok ban, which is only enforceable by federal authorities. Molloy also noted that there was a “pervasive undertone of anti-Chinese sentiment” within Montana’s proposed legislation.
TikTok has welcomed the ruling, issuing a brief statement in response:
We are pleased the judge rejected this unconstitutional law and hundreds of thousands of Montanans can continue to express themselves, earn a living, and find community on TikTok.
— TikTok Policy (@TikTokPolicy) December 1, 2023
Montana attorney general, meanwhile, has said that it’s considering next steps to advance its proposed TikTok ban.
The news is a win for TikTok, though the Biden Administration is still weighing a full TikTok ban in the U.S., which may still happen, even though the process has been delayed by legal and legislative challenges.
As I’ve noted previously, my sense here would be that TikTok won’t be banned in the U.S. unless there’s a significant shift in U.S.-China relations, and that relationship is always somewhat tense, and volatile to a degree.
If the U.S. government has new reason to be concerned, it may well move to ban the app. But doing so would be a significant step, and would prompt further response from the C.C.P.
Which is why I suspect that the U.S. government won’t act, unless it feels that it has to. And right now, there’s no clear impetus to implement a ban, and stop a Chinese-owned company from operating in the region, purely because of its origin.
Which is the real crux of the issue here. A TikTok ban is not just banning a social media company, it’s blocking cross-border commerce, because the company is owned by China, which will remain the logic unless clear evidence arises that TikTok has been used as a vector for gathering information on U.S. citizens.
Banning a Chinese-owned app because it is Chinese-owned is a statement, beyond concerns about a social app, and the U.S. is right to tread carefully in considering how such a move might impact other industries.
So right now, TikTok is not going to be banned, in Montana, or anywhere else in the U.S. But that could still change, very quickly.
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