Elon Musk announces to start rigorous security tests on X Chat

Last year, Elon Musk-owned X platform (formerly Twitter) launched the built-in Xchat feature for all users. But it was limited to texting. Those with a premium subscription had the option to make audio and video calls without the need for linking a phone number.

Though Musk claims that the XChat is protected with end-to-end encryption, the Private keys that are required to decrypt the messages on the receiver and sender phones are stored on X's servers, not on individual phones, like on the Signal Messenger app. This loophole can be used for government agencies (with a court order) to get a backdoor entry to X Platform's servers to retrieve chat data details.

Now, Musk, in a bid to allay fears about his messenger service, has announced that the company will perform rigorous security tests on XChat and will open source all the code.

Giving access to the source code of the XChat feature will definitely offer an opportunity for third-party cybersecurity firms and freelance internet experts to dig in, and if they find any anomaly, they can flag the relevant engineer at XChat and get them fixed.

It can be noted that Elon Musk regularly host bug bounty programmes with cash rewards on the HackerOne platform to encourage experts to detect and offer feedback to improve the security on the X platform and the generative Artificial Intelligence (gen AI) GrokAI app.

Depending on the severity of security flaws, winners get awarded anywhere between $7,500 (approx. Rs 6,79,262) and $20,000 (around Rs 18,11,366).

However, Grok AI app-maker xAI came under scrutiny for not having self-regulation on creating age-appropriate images. Last month, several X users misused Grok AI to edit women's pictures without consent on the X platform.

After getting a warning from the government worldwide, including in India, the company deleted the content and now restricts people from using xAI to edit women's pictures.

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