Meta's Long Journey to Implement End-to-End Encryption for All Chats

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has finally begun rolling out end-to-end encryption for its Messenger and Instagram chat apps after seven years of development. The implementation of this privacy feature, which makes data unreadable except on the devices of the sender and recipient, has been a challenging task due to technical and political obstacles. Meta had to address concerns from law enforcement and victim advocacy groups while retrofitting its massive communication platforms to maintain user experience and functionality. The company developed an encrypted storage protocol called Labyrinth to securely store users' chat histories on its servers while keeping the data inaccessible to Meta. The rollout will initially cover direct messages between two accounts, with group chats remaining opt-in for now. The move has received mixed reactions, with privacy advocates applauding the increased security while law enforcement and victim defense groups expressing concerns about limited oversight.