Ethical Approaches to Closed Messaging Research: considerations in democratic contexts


Closed messaging applications or “messenger apps” such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat are now among the world’s leading social media platforms and applications according to marketing analytics reports. These applications were among the top 10 most-used social platforms at the onset of 2020. Different from the openness of Twitter or even the default Facebook experience, these “private chat” spaces for personal exchange are having a larger impact upon public discourse than originally envisioned. Read more here