X users can no longer send encrypted messages on the platform. The company said in an update that it is “suspending” this feature “while we work on some improvements.” Users will still be able to view previously sent encrypted chats, but will not be able to send new ones.
Up until now, encrypted DMs have only been available in messages between verified users that are reciprocal or that have previously accepted DMs from each other. Screenshots of this feature from the X Help Center have been labeled “early access.” (It’s worth noting that encryption in X has come with a number of other important caveats even when it has worked, including the fact that encryption has never been available for group chats, multimedia messages, or metadata.)
It is unclear when the feature will be available again and whether this “pause” is related to XChat, the company’s yet-to-be-launched chat platform. X employees have been hinting at XChat for some time now, which will reportedly feature encrypted direct messages. Screenshots from leaks suggest that XChat may have additional security features such as PIN-protected chats.
Officially, however, X has not disclosed much information about XChat or what is happening with the current version of encrypted DM messages. The mailbox in the X app was one of the features that experienced numerous problems last week after a site-wide outage – possibly due to a fire at an Oregon facility used by the company – caused several days of technical problems with the service. Updates on the company’s developer platform page indicate that some of these issues have yet to be resolved.
