End-to-end encryption removes any ability to trace misinformation sources.

Evidence

However, unlike Twitter, WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption, which means that they cannot (or do not) read or moderate user messages. When a WhatsApp message is forwarded, any metadata about the sender is automatically stripped and removed. In other words, WhatsApp does not engage in content moderation and cannot identify the sources of misinformation. … The Indian government repeatedly tried to get WhatsApp to allow them to trace harmful and problematic content but, to their dismay, WhatsApp did not agree to do so. The reasons are likely to be partly political (WhatsApp might worry about becoming a tool for governments to hunt down individuals), and partly driven by the fact that privacy is key to the platform’s popularity. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 350

Categorization

• XREF: The encryption-vs-moderation tradeoff ties to the WhatsApp India study and to general tension between privacy and content governance; connects to ch.3’s point on limits of technology-only fixes. — connects to: End-to-end encrypted platforms strip sender metadata, erasing misinformation origins — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 350