Twitter "Secret Conversations" with end-to-end encryption in the works

A few days ago, Jane Wong, a computer science student, spotted a new set of options labeled "Secret Conversations" in her Twitter app.

Twitter is working on End-to-End Encrypted Secret DM! pic.twitter.com/2lLr5i1p42
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) May 4, 2018

It would appear that Twitter is testing end-to-end encrypted Direct Messages on its platform, what with the presence of encryption keys visible only to the users. This ensures that no one, not even Twitter, can intercept and read the messages you send and receive.

This comes possibly after a brief exchange between Edward Snowden and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, where the former appealed for a more secure, private, whistleblower-friendly messaging system on the platform.

One more ask, @Jack: how about secret, burn-after-reading DMs? Even if E2E encryption won't work by default in all clients, give us a start!
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) December 13, 2016

This feature would be extremely useful today, when countries like Russia and Iran are attempting to block existing encrypted messaging services like Telegram, more options for potential whistleblowers are always welcome (though Twitter would also be blocked in due course, some might surmise).

TechCrunch's article on the subject elicited nothing but a whisper emoji from Jack Dorsey. While this isn't a confirmation by any means, it is, at the very least, encouraging.

Source: Jane Wong (Twitter)