Apple's iMessage Update May Be Used Against Abuse Victims, Advocate Says

Sophie Webster, Tech Times 16 June 2022, 07:06 pm

Apple's iMessage is designed in a way that you can clearly see whether someone is typing a message.

Compared to its rivals, the messaging service does not have an edit or unsend option, so everything that you've typed and sent stays.

This may change soon, though, as Apple's CEO Tim Cook announced during the company's WWDC event that it would be introducing updates to iMessage in 2022 via the iOS 16 launch.

However, an advocate for sexual assault and sexual harassment victims is asking the tech giant to rethink its decision.

iMessage's Upcoming Update

According to 9to5Mac, Atty. Michelle Simpson Tuegel sent a letter to Cook, asking him to rethink the aspects of the upcoming iMessage update.

Atty. Tuegel pointed out that the ability to edit and delete messages can be easily weaponized by harassment suspects.

She said that the new features would be used by perpetrators to destroy evidence of their wrongdoing, and it can expose the victims to more harassment.

Also Read: Apple's iMessage May Now be Available to Android Users, Here's How it Could be Possible

During the WWDC event, Cook explained how the new updates for iMessage will work. After sending a message, iPhone users will only be given 15 minutes to edit or delete a message, according to iMore.

After that, what they've sent stays permanently on the platform.

But in her letter to the tech giant, Atty. Tuegel showed how this could be a bad idea.

Atty. Tuegel stated that in just 15 minutes, a sender could edit the message several times, so the perpetrator can write anything they want to make it seem like they're innocent.

She then added that relying on victims to screenshot the messages within a specific time frame to save as evidence is "unfair."

Abusers have a history of gaslighting their victims by deleting or editing online evidence such as messages and having these types of features on iMessage can be potentially harmful.

The iOS 16 rollout is scheduled for October, which means that the tech giant can still make adjustments to ease the worry of abuse victims and abuse victim advocates.

Atty. Tuegel proposed solutions to the issue and is asking Apple to consider them in order to help the victims and lessen the harm done by messaging platforms.

What Can Apple Do?

In the same letter, Atty. Tuegel encouraged Apple to lessen the time frame of 15 minutes to only two minutes. In this way, the perpetrators won't be able to edit the messages.

A shorter time in editing or deleting a message is advantageous because, by the time the perpetrator has taught about destroying the evidence, it is too late.

A 15-minute window is too long, and a lot can happen in that period.

Atty. Tuegel also suggested that the recipient should be notified if the send edits or deletes a message, a feature similar to YouTube and Telegram.

Apple's Response

In response to Atty. Tuegel's letter, Apple stated that it had incorporated two protections in the system. First, when a message is deleted, it will show in the thread. It will also show when a message is edited.

A Safety Check feature is also added to protect the user's personal information from being accessed by someone else.

However, the tech giant has kept the 15-minute window for editing and deleting messages.