Twitter is working on end-to-end encryption for direct messages sent over the social network, according to app researcher Jane Manchun Wong.
"Seeing signs of the feature being worked on in Twitter for Android," wrote Wong in a tweet, which was accompanied by code strings highlighting references to encryption keys.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk later replied to Wong's tweet with a winking face emoji – a heavy hint that the feature is indeed in development.
End-to-end encrypted DMs would put Twitter's messaging platform on the level of apps like Signal and WhatsApp, ensuring that a conversation between users is only ever seen by those sending the messages and not a surveilling third party.
Twitter began work on encryption for Twitter DMs back in 2018 under the moniker "secret conversations," but the feature never materialized. Musk has previously championed privacy-centric encrypted messaging platform Signal, suggesting he is making secure communications a priority for the service.
😉 — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 16, 2022
In related developments, Musk has said that Twitter's $8-per-month subscription plan will relaunch later than originally planned. Twitter Blue Verified will now return on November 29, "to make sure that it is rock solid," Musk announced via tweet late Tuesday.
