In a move aimed at ensuring privacy protections for users, Meta has rolled out new encryption technology for direct messages on Facebook and Instagram.
However, former employees have raised concerns that this move has made it more difficult to track down online child predators.
Encrypted messages block anyone except the sender and receiver from viewing the contents of the communication. While this improves privacy protection for users, critics fear it facilitates predators who prey on children online. The concern is that encryption will shield their actions and make it harder to track them down.
Former engineering director David Erb resigned from Meta in 2019 in protest of the encryption initiative. He expressed his concern to superiors that encrypting direct messages on Facebook would facilitate predators’ actions. Erb believes that the encryption feature would make it easier for pedophiles to communicate with and prey on children online.
The launch of encryption for direct messages comes four years after it was initially announced. The project had been a major bone of contention inside the company. Despite this, the company went ahead with the initiative, raising concerns among some of its former employees.
Critics fear that would-be pedophiles can use Facebook’s “People You May Know” feature to track down children. This feature provides suggestions of possible friends who can be added through an online social circle. Erb estimates that there are millions of pedophiles targeting tens of millions of children on Facebook.
