Meta said Wednesday evening that the personal calls and chats of every Messenger user will be encrypted by default, representing a major privacy update that makes the service more similar to its sibling WhatsApp.
Because of the encryption technology “nobody, including Meta, can see what’s sent or said, unless you choose to report a message to us,” Loredana Crisan, the head of Messenger, wrote in an accompanying blog post.
Crisan said that it will take an unspecified amount of time for Meta to encrypt all Messenger chats, and that the company relied on several “cryptographic principles” to inform its strategy, including one developed in-house and another that’s utilized by the popular Signal encrypted messaging app.
Since 2016, Messenger users could choose, or opt-in, to safeguarding their chats via a process referred to as end-to-end encryption, which scrambles peoples’ communications so that third-parties can’t eavesdrop and access the data. Although Meta’s other messaging app, WhatsApp, also utilizes end-to-end encryption, privacy advocates have generally considered Signal to be a more secure communication service because it collects less user data.
“After years of work rebuilding Messenger, we’ve updated the app with default end-to-end encryption for all personal calls and messages,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday. “Huge congrats to the team on making this happen.”
In 2019, Zuckerberg said the social networking company would bring encryption technology to all private communications in its family of apps, underscoring a major privacy push that the executive attributed to changing consumer habits in which people “want to connect privately in the digital equivalent of the living room.”
“I believe the future of communication will increasingly shift to private, encrypted services where people can be confident what they say to each other stays secure and their messages and content won’t stick around forever,” Zuckerberg said at the time.
Zuckerberg detailed his more privacy centric vision for Facebook following a string of data-privacy blunders, including the Cambridge Analytica scandal which damaged the company’s reputation.
Over the years, Meta debuted more privacy related updates, including letting some Instagram users in a few countries opt-in to having their direct messages encrypted via a test in 2021.
In 2022, Meta conducted a test on Messenger that let users back up their end-to-end encrypted conversations in case they needed to access them on another device. Although the test came shortly after the social networking company provided Messenger chat histories to Nebraska law enforcement investigating an alleged illegal abortion in the state, a Meta spokesperson said at the time that they were unrelated.
Meta’s latest encryption announcement will likely add to an ongoing debate involving privacy and the ability of law enforcement to conduct investigations, as exemplified in 2016 when the Federal Bureau of Investigation wanted Apple to develop software to help then unlock the iPhone of suspects that were part of a major shooting in San Bernardino, California. Apple refused to comply, saying at the time “The same engineers who built strong encryption into the iPhone to protect our users would, ironically, be ordered to weaken those protections and make our users less safe.”
More recently, leaders at WhatsApp and Signal said their services would no longer be available in the United Kingdom if the lawmakers enacted laws that would weaken encryption. The U.K. government claimed that Meta’s encryption push would make it more difficult to detect online child abuse activities.
Advanced Micro Devices‘ CEO Lisa Su shut down concerns over Big Tech’s elevated spending during an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday and said investing in more computing will accelerate the pace of innovation.
“I don’t think it’s a big gamble,” she said. “I think it’s the right gamble.”
Many of AMD’s hyperscaler customers over the last 12 months have beefed up spending as the technology reaches an “inflection point” and companies can see the return on that spending, Su added.
Su’s comments come as tech’s megacaps announced more than $380 billion in AI spending in their latest earnings reports as the firms race to build out infrastructure to support soaring demand.
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On Tuesday, Su told analysts that AMD expects revenues to grow 35% per year over the next three to five years due to “insatiable” AI chip demand.
Shares were last up more than 7%.
Concerns of a potential AI bubble have jolted markets in recent sessions as Wall Street raises concerns that valuations have gotten too high.
Brian Armstrong, chief executive officer of Coinbase Global Inc., speaks during the Messari Mainnet summit in New York, on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Coinbase is following Tesla out of Delaware and into Texas.
Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Wednesday that the crypto exchange is moving its state of incorporation, a year after Elon Musk did the same with his electric vehicle maker. Musk also reincorporated his rocket maker SpaceX from Delaware to Texas.
“Delaware’s legal framework once provided companies with consistency. But no more,” Grawal wrote, pointing to recent “unpredictable outcomes” in the Delaware Chancery Court.
A handful of notable names, including Dropbox, TripAdvisor and venture firm Andreessen Horowitz have announced departures from Delaware. It’s a move that was championed by Musk following a Delaware Chancery Court ruling that ordered Tesla to rescind the CEO’s 2018 pay package, worth about $56 billion in options.
“If your company is still incorporated in Delaware, I recommend moving to another state as soon as possible,” Musk wrote in a post on X in February 2024, when he filed to change SpaceX’s incorporation state.
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Last week, Tesla shareholders voted to approve Musk’s more recent pay package, which could be worth up to $1 trillion.
Delaware has long been the dominant state for U.S. companies to incorporate due to its flexible corporate code and expert judiciary, and is seen as balancing the rights of executives and shareholders. A Texas state law allows corporations to limit shareholder lawsuits against insiders for breach of fiduciary duty.
Coinbase and Andreessen Horowitz, an early backer, currently face a lawsuit in Delaware concerning the sale of shares in the crypto company tied to its public listing in 2021.
Like Musk, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong was a major contributor to President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign for the White House.
Mike Intrator, Chief Executive Officer and founder of CoreWeave, poses for a photo during the company’s Initial Public Offering(IPO) at the Nasdaq headquarters on March 28, 2025 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
This is CNBC’s Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox.
Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. Chips and dip
2. Numbers game
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is the principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy.
Bill Clark | Getty Images
While the government shutdown could be over soon, don’t expect the Bureau of Labor Statistics to release all the missed economic data immediately.
As CNBC’s Jeff Cox reports, government agencies will need time to catch up on data collection. If the shutdown ends this week, Goldman Sachs estimated that the BLS could have a schedule for when it would release reports — but not the data itself — out early next week.
Market watchers are especially eager to see what job market data will say, as other data sources point to loosening in the labor force. Adding to the uncertainty is the rise of “ghost job” postings, a term used to describe listings for open roles that have never appeared to be filled.
3. Payment plans
A protester with the Main Street Alliance holds a sign outside the U.S. Supreme Court, as its justices are set to hear oral arguments on U.S. President Donald Trump’s bid to preserve sweeping tariffs after lower courts ruled that Trump overstepped his authority, in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 5, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
President Donald Trump floated a tariff rebate check over the weekend. Experts are warning you shouldn’t hold your breath.
Policy analysts and economists told CNBC’s Jessica Dickler that Trump’s idea of paying Americans a “dividend” of at least $2,000 — except for “high income people” — likely wouldn’t happen anytime soon. They also warned that this type of economic stimulus could drive up inflation.
Speaking of tariffs, CNBC’s Lori Ann LaRocco reported that U.S. importers are expecting a simple repayment process if the Supreme Court rules against Trump’s levies and forces a refund.
4. Capital, capitol
Bitcoin and USA flag on a cracked wall.
Ruma Aktar | Istock | Getty Images
The Senate Agriculture Committee this week released a draft of its part of a market structure bill for digital assets, a major step toward greater investor adoption of cryptocurrencies.
The draft lays out a framework for how to place guardrails on the industry and institutions that want to utilize digital assets. Cody Carbone, CEO of crypto trade association Digital Chamber, called it “the most consequential roadmap” for how institutions will utilize these currencies.
The Roger models, named after former tennis player and company investor Roger Federer, are displayed in a shop of Swiss shoemaker On in Zurich, Switzerland, Aug. 28, 2025.
Denis Balibouse | Reuters
On, the Swiss sportswear company,isn’t seeing the same slowdown as other shoe makers. The company reported better-than-expected earnings and raised its guidance this morning, saying it wouldn’t need to offer Black Friday deals to juice demand. Shares of On surged nearly 9% in premarket trading.
Elsewhere in fitness, Oura CEO Tom Hale told CNBC in an exclusive interview that the smart ring maker could see $2 billion in sales in 2026, almost doubling sales for a second straight year. Oura raised $900 million in a funding round last month, bringing its value to $11 billion. But public market investors shouldn’t get too excited: Hale said there’s “no news on an IPO” for the Finnish company.
The Daily Dividend
Consumer sentiment varies significantly by the amount of stocks individuals hold. Click here to read more about how the biggest owners are buoying economic confidence, and what could change that.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Kif Leswing, Ashley Capoot, Jordan Novet, Yun Li, Jeff Cox, Jessica Dickler,Lori Ann LaRocco, Liz Napolitano, Gabrielle Fonrouge, Tasmin LockwoodandArjun Kharpalcontributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.