Information Technology and Ethics/Ephemeral Messaging

In the rapidly evolving landscape of digital communication, ephemeral and private messaging platforms have emerged as vital tools in both personal and professional contexts. These platforms, characterized by self-destructing messages and encrypted communication, offer users a sense of privacy and control that traditional messaging services lack. This chapter explores the functionality, advantages, challenges, and legal and ethical implications of these technologies, focusing on widely-used platforms such as Snapchat, Telegram, and Signal.^[1][2][3]

Ephemeral messaging platforms, such as Snapchat and Signal, enhance user privacy through features like automatic message deletion and end-to-end encryption. These platforms reduce data retention risks, secure communications, and foster psychological safety.

Ephemeral platforms automatically delete messages after a set period, minimizing the risk of unauthorized access to stored data. Snapchat ensures messages are not permanently stored, reducing data breach risks.^[4] This aligns with modern privacy laws like GDPR, which emphasize data minimization.^[5]

Platforms like Signal use end-to-end encryption (E2EE) to ensure only the sender and recipient can access message content. The Council of Europe highlights that E2EE is critical for protecting user privacy against surveillance.^[6]

Temporary messaging fosters trust by ensuring messages are not stored indefinitely. Snapchat’s "disappearing messages" feature exemplifies this by promoting freer expression among users.^[4]

Ephemeral messaging aligns with regulations like GDPR and CCPA, which require minimizing data retention.^[7] By automatically deleting messages, these platforms reduce non-compliance risks.

Ephemeral messaging platforms offer significant privacy advantages through automatic deletion, encryption, psychological safety, and compliance with privacy laws. These features make them essential for secure communication in a surveilled digital world.

Users may believe that their content is fully secure, yet they can still be recorded and stored by taking a screenshot or third-party programs. Even when a recipient takes a screenshot and the sender is informed, an external camera or even a recording program can be used in capturing vanishing content without the sender knowing. Such a sense of false security may lead users to share confidential content more freely compared to a posting experience on other platforms, increasing the potential for unintentional exposure.^[8] Users under 18 are particularly more likely to share more confidential or explicit materials on these platforms, some of which can be illegal in nature due to the user’s age—even if the recipient does not store them.

These can also be employed in criminal activities, such as cyberbullying, harassment, or illegal materials trading. The data trail also disappears before law enforcement agencies can acquire it, making it difficult to track a crime. It has also led to accountability and transparency issues.^[9][10][11] Further, the anonymity of the accounts can make the true sender difficult to discern since there are no stored images of their identity.

The second concern is the technical implementation of the services. Not all services offer default end-to-end encryption, and some even log metadata, still tracing user activity. Users may be unaware of those limitations, thereby jeopardizing their data.^[12]

The temporary aspect of messages may lead individuals to engage in unfavorable activities, such as sexting, cyberbullying, hate speech, and harassment. Victims of these acts typically lack any digital proof to provide, and it becomes challenging for them to report and have the cases addressed. It is very difficult for law enforcement agencies and moderators to act against such acts when they lack access to the original content.^[13]

Additionally, the untraceability and anonymity may attract offending users who use the apps to exploit vulnerable users, including children. Several reports have linked ephemeral messaging apps to grooming and the sharing of child exploitation materials.^[14] Although some of the platforms have measures in place to identify and block such content, the impermanence of the messages makes it realistically impossible to moderate or automatically detect such content.^[15]

There is the second aspect of power dynamics, in which the perpetrators abuse the anonymity of the platform to terrorize or coerce individuals with the recognition that they are unlikely to face many sanctions or remedies. The dynamics may augment the psychological impact on the victims as well as contribute to the overall culture of online impunity.^[16]

All ephemeral messaging platforms are not created equal. Some rely too much on client-side security and do not make provisions for server-side compromises or exploits, and others lack robust verification of user identities and are susceptible to impersonation or fraud as a result.^[17][18] Moreover, the reliability of message deletion mechanisms varies; whereas true ephemerality is often promised, evidence of deleted content may still appear in local backups or in cloud storage.^[19][20]

In addition, security experts have found differences in the way different apps handle metadata—information such as timestamps, geographical data, or sender IDs may still be retained even as the content vanish. These weaknesses can be leveraged by unscrupulous individuals or third parties to create the user's profile or track activity.^[21] As a result, users may perceive that they are more secure than they truly are, leading to higher privacy vulnerabilities.^[22]

The legal landscape regarding ephemeral messaging is evolving. Ephemeral messaging platforms, which automatically delete messages after a set period, pose significant legal risks related to spoliation: the destruction or alteration of evidence.^[23] In litigation, regulatory investigations, or audits, parties have a duty to preserve relevant communications. If ephemeral messaging is used for business communications, the automatic deletion of messages can lead to claims of spoliation, even if unintentional. Courts may impose sanctions, including adverse inference instructions, monetary penalties, or even default judgments, if they determine that a party failed to preserve evidence. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have reinforced that companies must ensure compliance with preservation obligations, regardless of the messaging platform used.^[24]

Regulators and enforcement agencies have increasingly scrutinized ephemeral messaging due to its potential to obscure misconduct. The DOJ’s updated guidance emphasizes that companies using such platforms must implement robust compliance policies to retain business-related communications.^[25] In enforcement actions, the inability to produce relevant messages can be interpreted as intentional concealment, leading to heightened scrutiny or penalties. For example, in financial and corporate investigations, the use of ephemeral messaging without proper retention mechanisms has resulted in enforcement actions where companies faced severe consequences for failing to maintain records.^[26]The DOJ has even recommended that companies avoid encrypted or self-deleting messaging apps unless they can ensure compliance with record-keeping laws.^[27] As courts and regulators continue to focus on digital communications, businesses that fail to address ephemeral messaging risks may face significant legal and reputational consequences.

While intended to improve user privacy, ephemeral and private messaging apps present challenging ethical issues that have an impact on both users and developers. These platforms give users a sense of control and confidentiality with features like auto-deleting messages and end-to-end encryption. However, a false sense of security may result from this imagined control. With the belief that what they share will disappear without consequences, users might feel more comfortable sharing extremely private, delicate, or even dangerous information. The illusion of impermanence can affect behavior, prompting impulsiveness and disregard for ethical duty in digital communication.^[28]

Even in private situations, users of these apps need to think about the consequences of their choices. These platforms' anonymity and transience can be abused to commit unethical acts such as cyberbullying, harassment, and the spread of harmful or inaccurate information. The absence of permanent recordings may lessen the perception of accountability, which might encourage negative interactions to take place with no real consequences. In terms of ethics, users should understand that digital duty endures even when messages are deleted. Respect, empathy, and integrity should always be considered, no matter what the medium is.

Developers of ephemeral and private messaging apps have important ethical obligations since user behavior is influenced by platform design.^[29] Developers who place a high priority on user privacy must consider the possibility of tool exploitation. Ethical development includes integrating features that protect users from abuse, such as robust reporting tools, user education on privacy and safety, and thoughtful settings that encourage responsible communication. For example, notifying users when screenshots are taken or limiting the forwarding of messages are design choices that can discourage misuse, as demonstrated by Snapchat. Furthermore, developers should prepare for and address ethical issues associated with their platforms. Designing for ephemerality does not exempt developers from responsibility for how their technologies are used. Instead, it requires a proactive, ethically acceptable approach that balances user freedom with safeguards against harm. This includes communicating clearly about what data is truly private or ephemeral, as well as ensuring that users understand the boundaries of their privacy.

The Snapchat application is a free social networking and messaging application compatible with smartphones. Snap Inc., co-founded and led by Evan Spiegel, encourages individuals to express themselves, explore the globe, and connect with others.^[30] Evan co-founded Snapchat with Bobby Murphy in 2011, when they were both students at Stanford University. They dubbed it a camera company. At the crossroads of communication and augmented reality (AR), Snap stands out for its emphasis on camera-based interactivity over text-based interactions.

Snapchat is a messaging app with several features that facilitate rapid, interactive, and visually appealing conversations. The user can see a collection of today's Live Stories on Snapchat's Discover screen. According to the Carly Ryan Foundation (2020),^[31] consumers may access channels curated by well-known publications using Discover. Snapchat also has a one-on-one messaging feature. Like Snaps, the chat is cleared when the receiver navigates away from the Chat interface. Additionally, the filters provide various design overlays. One standard method to personalize the Snap at particular places or events is with geo-filters. Snapchat is another app that lets users communicate photos, videos, and text to friends and family; it is compatible with iOS and Android.^[32] Finally, Snapchat requires users to be 18 or older to utilize its payment tool. Stories and Snaps disappear after a defined period, enabling more informal and honest lifestyle sharing.

Ephemeral messaging is central to Snapchat's identity, which allows for momentary sharing and decreases digital permanence. Once viewed Snaps are gone forever, while Stories, unless the user saves them, are gone after 24 hours. According to a report from Huie, Butler, and Percy,^[33] people feel more comfortable sharing personal photographs on Snapchat since the messages are fleeting. The lack of concern for potential repercussions or criticism in the future allows users to open up more freely. More than 89.6 million Americans used the picture messaging and social media sharing app Snapchat in 2023. The number is anticipated to reach 91.1 million users in 2025, and it is forecast to reach nearly 92 million users the following year.^[34] It remains proof of how many people utilize and trust fleeting messages.

Consequently, consumers' views on privacy and communication have shifted due to transient material, particularly among the younger generation. Snapchat is more popular among teens than Instagram since it does not feel permanent and pressured. In October 2020, two adolescent boys stalked and tracked down two other boys to a bus using the Snap Maps feature. They then proceeded to attack them, resulting in hospitalization.^[33] The vanishing nature alleviates social anxiety and the pursuit of perfection. Bullying and sexting are examples of unsafe conduct that might be facilitated. Despite the platform's strengths in privacy, safety, and accountability can become compromised.