X Get A Controversial Makeover: Is Elon Musk's XChat Upgrade A Privacy Threat?

Tech Mogul and billionaire Elon Musk has decided to include a direct messaging feature known as XChat to the latest updated version of X, formerly known as Twitter. This new feature, which Musk says is built using a bitcoin-style encrpytion and offfers users vanishing messages, sharing filing, audio and video calling is garnered fresh attention after concerns regarding privacy grew on social media.

Musk's fancy terminolgy “bitcoin-style encrpytion” left several pondering on was it anything more than a buzzword. Bitcoin is known to use digital signatures for transactions but it is known for keeping data encrypted. So the term feels more like a buzzword than a real security protocol.

More worryingly, X’s support page explains that when you open a chat, a unique private-public key pair is created—but your private key is stored on X’s servers. That’s a big red flag for privacy advocates. Unlike apps like WhatsApp or Signal, where only you and the recipient can see the messages, X's setup means the platform technically can read your chats.

X Claims No Protection from “Man-In-The-Middle” Attacks

Adding to that, X itself has admied that it doesn’t yet protect users from “man-in-the-middle” attacks—a situation where someone could intercept and possibly decrypt messages without your knowledge. That includes, in theory, someone inside the company.

On its support page, X informed that when twiteratti's enter a chat for the very first time, it creates a “private-public key pair” which is unique to each user, with the private key stored on X servers when they enter a PIN.

While XChat is being tehcnically dubbed as a upgrade, if privacy is not a user's top priority it could be a fresh feature that X users are likely to try out.

Musk informed that a detailed whitepaper will arrive later this year, which migh make things clearer than they already are. Until then, don’t assume your DMs are truly private.