Meta executives warned about Facebook Messenger’s encryption plan despite child safety warnings

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• Meta execs warned encryption could hinder child safety efforts
• Internal chats show fears of reduced child exploitation detection
• Meta says new safety tools were added before encryption rollout

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Internal court documents, which included chats and emails submitted in a New Mexico lawsuit, have revealed that senior executives at Facebook-parent company Meta internally warned the company that its plan to encrypt Facebook Messenger was “irresponsible” because it could weaken efforts to combat child exploitation. Meta’s then head of content policy, Monika Bickert, stated that the plan was “so irresponsible,” as executives finalised a public rollout of encryption backed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, as claimed by Reuters.

Further, Bickert said that the company was making “gross misstatements” about its ability to keep users safe, as it will hide the content of messages from its own moderation systems. Since end-to-end encryption means that only the sender and receiver can read or modify a message, some executives at Meta feared the move would significantly reduce the firm’s ability to proactively detect and report child exploitation cases to law enforcement agencies, causing anxiety amongst Facebook users.

The documents, which were made public on Friday last week through a lawsuit brought by Raul Torrez, show frustration among senior policy leaders about the company’s approach to Facebook Messenger. Bickert wrote she was “not very invested in helping him sell this,” arguing that with full encryption in place, “there is no way to find the terror attack planning or child exploitation” for subsequent action by law enforcement authorities.

Meta estimated that its reporting of child nudity and sexual exploitation imagery to NCMEC would have dropped from 18.4 million cases to 6.4 million in 2018 if Messenger had already been encrypted during that time, a 65% decrease. The lawsuit alleges that Meta allowed predators “unfettered access” to underage users and facilitated harmful social media crimes that potentially create real-world abuse and trafficking. This trial also marks the first case of its kind against Meta to reach a jury.

After this lawsuit became public, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone stated that the concerns raised in 2019 directly led the company to build new safety tools before launching default end-to-end encryption on Facebook and Instagram in 2023. The measures included the creation of special accounts for underage users that prevent adult users from initiating contact with a minor account.