Encryption

In the context of social media, encryption means converting data—messages, photos, videos, or user credentials—into a coded format that can only be accessed or understood by the intended, authorized parties. It is the foundational technology employed by platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat to protect not just our private conversations, but also login information and a treasure trove of other personal yet sensitive data. Why should we trust that?

Because the scrupulously untrustworthy Facebook, as well as the other platforms, use complex algorithms to ensure that our messages, private or otherwise, remain as they appear: random sequences of characters. In some systems, like Snapchat, there is no key to enable decryption with any level of certainty. Instead, the 'key' is the platform itself, which cannot be said with any level of certainty to have the original message in a decrypted form.

Nevertheless, there is much debate over whether or not the use of such a key renders messages secure. For these platforms to be secure, by the way, makes it less likely that bad guys will find ways to snoop on not just us, but also on their platforms.