Facebook, Instagram’s encrypted tech let ‘millions of pedophiles target kids’: Ex-Meta workers
NY Post
Meta has rolled out new encryption technology for direct messages on Facebook and Instagram — despite protests from former employees who say the move has made it more difficult to track down online child predators.
Earlier this month, the social media giant enabled encryption for direct messages on Facebook and Instagram as a means to ensure privacy protections for users.
Encrypted messages block anyone except the sender and receiver from viewing the contents of the communication.
The launch came four years after it was initially announced — and the project had been a major bone of contention inside the company. Former engineering director David Erb resigned from Meta in 2019 in protest of the initiative, he told the Wall Street Journal in a recent interview.
While at Meta — headed by 39-year-old Mark Zuckerberg — Erb expressed his concern to superiors that encrypting direct messages on Facebook would shield predators who preyed upon children.
Critics fear that would-be pedophiles can track down children through Facebook’s “People You May Know” feature, which offers suggestions of possible friends who can be added through an online social circle.
