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Tech entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk is set to launch a standalone messaging app called “X Chat” to compete with Telegram and WhatsApp, with a launch expected in the coming months.
“At X, we’ve just rebuilt the entire messaging stack into what’s called ‘X Chat,'” Musk said during The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, airing on Fridays.
“It uses a peer-to-peer based encryption system, kind of similar to Bitcoin. It’s a very good encryption; we’ve tested it thoroughly.”
Musk said he hopes the new messaging app will be released in “a few months,” adding that it won’t have “advertising hooks” as he pointed out to competitors like WhatsApp, which “knows enough about what you’re looking for to know what ads to show you,” he said.
“But then, it’s a massive security vulnerability because if you know enough information to show ads, it’s a lot of information,” he said, adding that hackers could use these same “hooks” to read private messages.
Does WhatsApp read your messages?
The parent company of WhatsApp, Meta, claims does not have access to private messages, explaining in its FAQ that messages between people are end-to-end encrypted using the Signal Protocol. This also covers voice messages, media and documents.
However, it is understood that “metadata”, such as who you talked to and how often you talk to them, is not encrypted. WhatsApp does not automatically encrypt backup copies of your chat history.
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The WhatsApp FAQ section on “Does WhatsApp collect or sell your data?” faldi answers the last part of the question, explaining only that “we work with other Meta Companies to help provide, improve and support each other’s services.”
“If you choose to integrate your WhatsApp experience with other Meta products, we will share some information with Meta to make this possible.”
X Chat doesn’t have those hooks, Musk says
Musk promised that X Chat will not have these advertising “hooks”.
“I’m not saying it’s perfect, but our goal with X chat is to replace what was Twitter’s DM stack with a fully encrypted system where you can text, send files, make audio video calls, and I think it will be the least insecure of any messaging system.”
He added that the messaging app will be available as part of the X platform and as its own standalone app.
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