Private Messages Should Be Private

Facebook gave Nebraska law enforcement access to a 17-year-old’s private Facebook messages — and now she’s being prosecuted for having an abortion.

Most people think that their private messages are just that: private. And they would be if Facebook and other companies actually cared enough about their users to take all of the necessary steps to protect them.

End-to-end encryption of private messages makes it possible for people to communicate without third parties viewing their conversations. But while this type of protection exists, it’s not available or easy to use on all of Facebook’s products.

Companies like Facebook collect and store tons of data about users to sell to advertisers. Facebook shouldn't retain so much sensitive data and it should use encryption so that private messages stay private. That’s the only way to ensure that police can't use this information for criminal prosecution of reproductive health care.

Big companies like Facebook need to stand up for everyone’s civil and human rights to access health care. Tech companies must do much more now to resist unjust demands from law enforcement.

By limiting data collection and ensuring that private messages are actually kept private, Facebook can protect its users in a post-Roe world.

Tell Facebook to protect its users and keep private messages private.