- Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) said that the free encrypted messaging app Wickr Me will shut down for good on December 31, 2023.
- The shutdown announcement follows reports that the company’s free messaging app had allowed criminals to exchange images of child sexual abuse.
- In June, NBC News, citing court documents, law enforcement, and activists, said Amazon had done “little” to address the problem proactively.
- Also Read: Twitter Initiates To Fight Online Misinformation As Non-Profit Social Medias Gain Ground
- Wickr, whose backers have included the CIA and controversial private security firm Blackwater, had also become a hub for drug dealers forced off the dark web by the closures of notorious illegal goods marketplaces such as Silk Road, TechCrunch reports.
- Amazon said the app would stop accepting new user registrations on December 31, 2022, before discontinuing the following year.
- Wickr was founded in 2011 and became one of the first mainstream end-to-end encrypted messaging apps until Amazon’s cloud services giant, Amazon Web Services, acquired it in 2021.
- The shutdown will only affect the consumer-facing version of Wickr, which has become popular among journalists and whistleblowers looking to send end-to-end encrypted and self-destructing messages.
- Wickr’s other products, geared towards government agencies, military organizations, and enterprises, remain unimpacted.
- Price Action: AMZN shares traded lower by 2.41% at $91.84 on the last check Monday.
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