Elon Musk, the billionaire proprietor of Twitter, has been throwing loads of options on the social media website after spending a whopping $44bn for it final yr. However regardless of hinting at producing “Twitter 2.zero The All the things App,” his newest thought appears similar to WhatsApp, the favored immediate messaging app from Twitter’s greatest social media competitor, Meta (the corporate behind Fb).

As Reuters studies (opens in new tab), Musk introduced in a Tweet that “coming quickly will probably be voice and video chat out of your deal with to anybody on this platform, so you’ll be able to speak to individuals anyplace on this planet with out giving them your cellphone quantity.”

Having the ability to make video and voice calls through Twitter is actually an attention-grabbing improvement, aligning it extra intently with the likes of WhatsApp and Fb Messenger, which provide these options as nicely.

With newest model of app, you’ll be able to DM reply to any message within the thread (not simply most up-to-date) and use any emoji response. Launch of encrypted DMs V1.zero ought to occur tomorrow. This can develop in sophistication quickly. The acid take a look at is that I couldn’t see your DMs even when…Might 9, 2023

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Within the above tweet, Musk additionally introduced that direct messages (DMs) will now be encrypted, and promised that the function will “develop in sophistication quickly.”

Preserve it secret, hold it secure

Encrypted messaging signifies that any personal messages you ship to somebody will stay personal, so Twitter staff, governments, regulation enforcement companies or malicious customers can’t achieve entry to them.

WhatsApp additionally provides encrypted messaging, and it’s typically touted as one of many foremost advantages of the app. Privateness and freedom of speech campaigners have welcomed this announcement, and there are clear advantages, particularly for individuals dwelling and dealing in oppressive regimes.

Some individuals say, nevertheless, that encrypting messages can enable criminal activity to flourish. That is an argument typically utilized by governments, and has led to reasonably frosty relationships between sure regimes and Meta over WhatsApp’s encryption.

By additionally including encryption to Twitter, Musk dangers elevating the ire of governments as nicely, however as somebody who fancies themselves as considerably of an antiauthoritarian, this most likely gained’t concern Musk an excessive amount of.

What ought to be of concern, nevertheless, is that with latest controversies resembling eradicating legacy Blue Checks and an increase of utmost rhetoric from some customers that has led to an exodus of advertisers (based on varied sources, together with Reuters (opens in new tab)), there’s a sense that Twitter might be shedding relevance. Asserting a number of new options that rivals are already providing simply gained’t minimize it. If Twitter is to outlive, Musk’s Twitter 2.zero plans should be extra bold – however that can be a scary prospect.