Article Image

Dorsey: Twitter thinking about implementing encrypted direct messages

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey says he’s open to implementing more security features, such as end-to-end encryption, in regard to direct messages on the platform. The Twitter chief was prompted on the issue by Edward Snowden.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey says he’s open to implementing more security features in regard to direct messages on the platform. The Twitter chief made the statement in response to a tweet from Edward Snowden, who suggested an encrypted messaging function.

The NSA whistleblower tweeted Dorsey following their Q&A live-stream. “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!”

In his reply, Dorsey stated: “@Snowden reasonable and something we’ll think about”.

Dorsey, who supports the Pardon Snowden movement (which is trying to drum up support to urge President Barack Obama to exonerate Snowden), had put forward a selection of user-submitted questions to the NSA whistleblower during their talk.

Among the topics discussed during the event were the recent bout of changes Twitter has pushed through, with Snowden providing a frank analysis of the updates the company has been making to its platform.

Snowden, who is current living in exile in Russia, even implored Dorsey to introduce the ability to edit tweets (a feature that Twitter users have been clamoring after for a while now). “Surely, there’s got to be ways around this? Surely, there’s got to be a way that you can tag it as edited? If you click on the edit tab, you can see the previous versions of the tweets, and something like that,” remarked Snowden during the interview.

Twitter has ramped up its direct messages feature this year, with updates that have brought it closer to a traditional instant messaging client — including the ability to opt in to receive direct messages from anyone, and read receipts. If the plan is to match the functionality offered by messaging apps, such as WhatsApp and Messenger (both of which provide end-to-end encryption), then a robust security feature would be the natural next step.

Discord is trying to push more visibility on the internet for some of its biggest communities, and there's a good chance your messages could end up in a Google Search. The platform is preparing to make conversations from certain public servers searchable on the web, so there's a privacy setting you might want to check before the rollout begins.

According to Discord's official announcement, the changes will roll out in two stages. Starting November 16, qualifying servers will have public web pages featuring automated summaries of conversations. By mid-December, individual messages from eligible public channels could also appear word-for-word in Google and other search engines.

You just opened X and started typing your thoughts. Imagine the jump scare when a hand suddenly pops up on your screen, pointing at the promote button. It doesn’t say a word and simply points. For a growing number of X users, this isn’t a made-up scenario but something they have been seeing since yesterday, and very few of them are amused.

Most of us have learned to tune out the usual in-app upsells, whether it’s a glowing upgrade banner or a pop-up about a premium plan. A floating hand hovering over your draft is much harder to ignore, and that’s probably the whole point.

Scroll through any app for five minutes, and you’ll find someone maxxing something. Their skin, their sleep, their protein intake, even their Friday night on the couch. That little suffix has been everywhere this year, and now it has a trophy to show for it. In a recent announcement, Dictionary.com named maxxing its 2026 Word of the Year.

What are people actually doing when they’re maxxing?