Recently, mounting activist/expert pressure has been forcing companies to take decisive action on this issue: both Google and Discord made announcements this month about expanded end-to-end encryption testing and roll-out:

The Verge

Google Messages now encrypts RCS conversations by default

It’s a big milestone for Google.

X (formerly Twitter)

AlternativeTo (@AlternativeTo) on X

Discord is experimenting with end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls to improve user privacy. The company is considering using Messaging L...

Now with the overturn of Roe, the private messages of anyone seeking, facilitating, or providing abortion care are also at risk of being used by law enforcement as tools of criminalization. The messages of one Nebraska teenager and her mom already have:

The Verge

A woman and her daughter plead guilty to abortion-related charges supported by Meta-provided Facebook chats

The woman and her daughter will be separately sentenced later this year.

Just the most recent examples of how DMs are used to target activists: The Colorado Springs police department forcing Meta to hand over the private Facebook messages of a housing justice advocate and of the Chinook Center, a small progressive Colorado Springs organization:

Colorado Public Radio

Colorado ACLU sues Colorado Springs Police Department and FBI over alleged unlawful privacy invasions of local activist

The lawsuit says detectives and undercover officers infiltrated activists at the Chinook Center to gather information with the intent to arrest mem...