By now, everyone and his dog should know that Elon Musk purchased Twitter earlier this week. The billionaire secured the deal for a whopping 44 billion dollars.

Naturally, Musk is brainstorming ideas about how he can improve the platform he newly secured, and while doing so he’s suggested that Twitter DMs can currently be spied on.

“Twitter DMs should have end to end encryption like Signal, so no one can spy on or hack your messages,” the Space-X owner wrote on Twitter this morning.

It’s public knowledge that Twitter messages don’t have end to end encryption, and Musk’s tweet confirms this. His suggestion that DM’s on the platform should utilise the technology “so no one can spy on or hack your messages” implies that people are currently doing exactly that.

End to end encryption is a very thorough way to ensure that messages sent from one person to another, aren’t intercepted somewhere in cyberspace. In basic terms, it means that the message that is sent is encrypted before it leaves the original device, and isn’t decrypted until it reaches the destination device. Messaging apps Whatsapp, Signal and Threema all use end-to-end encryption.

Prior to Musk’s purchase of Twitter, the platform was owned by former co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey. Dorsey – who is set to receive around 978 million from the deal – has been highly supportive of Musk’s new acquisition, hailing him as the “singular solution I trust.”

Musk detailed his feelings about the sale in a lengthy Twitter post, “I love Twitter. Twitter is the closest thing we have to a global consciousness,” the thread began after the sharing of the Radiohead song ‘Everything In Its Right Place’. “The idea and service is all that matters to me, and I will do whatever it takes to protect both. Twitter as a company has always been my sole issue and my biggest regret. It has been owned by Wall Street and the ad model. Taking it back from Wall Street is the correct first step.”

Dorsey continued: “In principle, I don’t believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company. Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.”

He ended by applauding Musk’s vision for Twitter: “Elon’s goal of creating a platform that is “maximally trusted and broadly inclusive” is the right one. This is also @paraga’s goal, and why I chose him. Thank you both for getting the company out of an impossible situation. This is the right path…I believe it with all my heart.”

“I’m so happy Twitter will continue to serve the public conversation. Around the world, and into the stars!” he added at the end of the thread.

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