Amazon's Encrypted Chat App Bows Out

Amazon.com Inc 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.
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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.